Stories and Chromosomes

Have a look at this Human Genre Project- Fabulous

Blue Roses

It is possible to modify the color of the flowers by mordern molecular breeding technologies.It is the anthocyanin pigments and its pattern that gives colors to the flowers.

The blue hues in flower is because of the presence of the pigment Delphinidin (Purple anthocyanin).It is a anthocyanidin.The precursor of the purple anthocyanin is dihydroflavonols (anthocyanin dihydrokaempferol -DHK.) Flavonoid 3',5'-hydroxylase (F3'5'H) is a cytochrome P450 enzyme (Cyt P450) that catalyzes the 3',5'-hydroxylation of dihydroflavonols.Roses lack this enzyme.

Earlier attempts to replace the gene for Delphinidin in roses had failed .Delphinidin gene cloned from petunia and expressed in roses created a dark burgundy rose ,not blue. So instead of modifying the color,scientists were looking for a genes/proteins involved in pathways before any color formation in roses. They found an enzyme dihydroflavinol reductase (DFR) which modifies the pigmentation from white to another color. In other words,until this enzyme acts, all the pigment molecules are colorless.

The solution to create a blue rose is obtaining a DFR mutant white rose. How to knock out the gene for the enzyme? The answer is in RNAi technology.

Using RNAi,they suppressed the DFR gene and cloned a new verson of Delphinidin in roses.

More on the technology here.

Kumbakarnan sleep -revisited genetically

Before I get into the genetic stuff,let me tell you who is Kumbakarnan and what is great in him.
Kumabakarna is a demon (a Rakshasha) and a brother of Ravana.U who slept for six months nonstop Usually, Kumbhakarna means a person who is fond of sleeping. The person who spends most of the time in sleeping is consider as Kumbhakarna.

The story of kumbakarna sleeping is here

Sometime back in Feruary 2007,Aranthangi Tamil Sangam organised a lecture on Kumbakarnan,where a tamil scholar remembered him as the epitome of virtues, integrity, gratitude, valour and bravery.

Now to the genetic angle ,scientists have recently revealed that low expression of MX2 gene exists in White blood cells of Narcoleptics.(people with a sleep disorder who sleep uncontrollably all through the day)[via Scientific blogging]

MX2 is an intracellular protein that plays a role in immunity.

Is it that MX2 is completely lost or some other genes implied in kumbakarna's sleep for six months?

Vivacious Williams

They are friendly,gregarious,extremely affable,voluble ..but all out of a genetic syndrome . It is called williams syndrome.

Person with this syndrome will have unusual fascinating traits -

a love of company and conversation combined, often awkwardly, with a poor understanding of social dynamics and a lack of social inhibition...Williams people talk a lot, and they talk with pretty much anyone. They appear to truly lack social fear.

If you’re talking with someone with Williams syndrome and look at your watch and say: “Oh, my, look at the time! Well it’s been awfully nice talking with you . . . ,” your conversational partner may well smile brightly, agree that “this is nice” and ask if you’ve ever gone to Disney World.

Newyork times has an excellent article on this syndrome-THE GREGARIOUS BRAIN

Take a look.

SUS x SUS ,sweet coffee a.k.a Heaven ...deep down to Genetics and Biotechnology

Mystical blends,divine flavours....and watch this short animation.

Undoubtfully the best of all pleasures is sipping a hot steamy coffee,especially Madras filter coffee,thanks to Baba Budhan. Indian filter coffee is made from rough ground, dark-roasted coffee Arabica or Peaberry beans.

While there are many chemicals in coffee responsible for its mesmerising aroma,scientists have recently identified genes responsible for coffee quality.

Sucrose is considered to be the crucial to the coffee quality. CIRAD have identified key enzymes of Sucrose metabolism in developing coffee beans.Sucrose synthetase, is responsible for sucrose accumulation in coffee (Coffea arabica) beans,which is present in two forms from genes SUS1 and SUS2.

The use of breeding strategies like Marker- assisted selection and Genetic modification approaches (GMA) for molecular determinism ,coffee EST's (Expressed sequence tags) and more on Genetics of coffee quality here.

This paper on coffee Biotechnology details the Invitro tissue culture methods in coffee,

physiological and biochemical advances made and possiblities of genetic transformations in coffee usind indirect and direct gene transfer.

Enjoy coffee ,reading. It tastes great.

SCN9A and Thaipoosam

Image source -Sepiamutiny

Those of you from the state of Tamilnadu,India must be knowing what THAIPOOSAM is. What fascinates me about the event is the fervour with which the devotees perform acts like tongue and body piercing with vels, walking barefoot over hot coal etc.. It is surprising to note they do not feel the pain at all.

Do they all have a gene mutation in SCN9A ? I do not know.

What is SCN9A ?????

Nerve fibers have different proteins embedded in their endings, each of which is sensitive to a different kind of injury. These sensor proteins act by letting a few sodium ions flow into the nerve, though not enough to set off a pain signal. The proteins made by the SCN9A gene amplify the initial activity by letting a much larger number of sodium ions flow in, initiating an electrical signal that is interpreted as painful when it reaches the brain.

There are many who does such offerings.All of them are not professionals.I doubt all of them carry mutations in the gene for pain.