The Gene of the Week. Blog
The year 2018 is about to end and it was yet another extremely eventful year for molecular biology and biomedicine. CRISPR has captured the headlines around the globe. But not every piece of research that has caused a sensation and astonishment this year has been directly related to CRISPR. As early as January 2018, two articles were published in the same issue of the journal Cell, which was jaw-dropping for several members of our working group, including myself. … Read more
When in 1979 six research groups independently described a 53 kDa protein, none of the participants suspected to which genetic superstar this protein would develop. This protein, which due to its molecular weight was given the not-so-impressive name p53, is perhaps the most important policeman in our cells; but only as long as it works properly. If p53 loses its functionality, it’s getting pretty dangerous. In fact, no other gene is mutated more frequently in tumor cells than p53. So how does normal p53 manage to keep all of our body cells in check and what does it all have to do with CRISPR?… Read more
It took a while, but now the newspapers are filled with it: at the initiative of the states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, the German Bundesrat recently had a draft for a far-reaching change in the law (printed matter 117/17; in German). It’s about expanding the scope of investigations of so called “DNA-capable material”. … Read more
When I started researching this week’s article, I was amazed myself. EPAS1 is a really fascinating protein. So I’ll do my best to try and tell you what is so special about EPAS1. Only so much in advance: it has to do with Tibetans, athletes, oxygen and a long extinct human species. In fact, the only uninteresting thing about EPAS1 is its full name: endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1. What was breathtaking, in contrast, was the observation that Tibetans almost exclusively carry a certain variant of the EPAS1 gene, which hardly ever occurs in Han Chinese (published in 2010 in science). … Read more
This week I once again decided on a gene classic. This classic, however, has just been described in a new context. But first, the already well established connection between this gene and a particular form of leukemia leads us back to the early 1960s. It was during these medically exciting years – in which the birth control pill, for example, made its revolutionary introduction – that for the first time a strange-looking chromosome was associated with a severe form of leukemia, chronic myelosis. This strange chromosome was named the Philadelphia chromosome after the location of the first discovery.… Read more
Most readers probably learned it in school: we carry two copies of every gene in us. Mutations in these genes can cause disease. We call it a recessive mutation if such a variant has to be inherited from mother and father, i.e. both copies of the gene in the child must be affected for a disease to manifest. For a dominant variant, on the other hand, it is sufficient if either the mother or the father inherits such a copy, because a single copy of this variant triggers the disease. An example of a devastating mutation with dominant inheritance is Huntigton’s chorea. This degenerative disease, which is unfortunately fatal without exception, is passed on to the child from an affected parent with a 50% probability. It does not matter whether the variant was inherited from the mother or the father for the course of the disease, because on the so-called autosomes (these are all chromosomes except the sex chromosomes X and Y), both copies of the DNA segments are actually equivalent. But is that really always true? Not quite! And that is one of many reasons why the subject of epigenetics is currently so popular.… Read more
Personally, I am particularly interested in genes that do something with us during embryonic development. And hardly any genes make anything more crucial than SRY during our embryonic development. The acronym stands for Sex determining Region on Y-chromosomes and in fact, the name says almost everything.… Read more
Well, actually there are two BRCA (pronounced “Brakka”) genes: BRCA1 and BRCA2. Few genes have caused so many headlines in recent years as they did. The BRCA genes are so hotly debated as an American biotech company was holding an extremely lucrative patent on these two genes. What that means I would like to explain later; but first, why are BRCA1 and 2 so important?… Read more
