Why Scientists reconstructed an ancient plague

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0D4cXdTu-plZiZ2JvVitjn2fOt2N1LiplnjVZYsK4P4vPTOlKLj9hWjEeJCjwZtUCSPFEjIpnoWjXH1X7iNZYZsip4O1PlaHP2RgbQ6M0lU6TxRJ1EeCxP1FUBm4q6btFKkxX7UgRudc3/s1600/black-death-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0D4cXdTu-plZiZ2JvVitjn2fOt2N1LiplnjVZYsK4P4vPTOlKLj9hWjEeJCjwZtUCSPFEjIpnoWjXH1X7iNZYZsip4O1PlaHP2RgbQ6M0lU6TxRJ1EeCxP1FUBm4q6btFKkxX7UgRudc3/s400/black-death-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Scientists have just reconstructed the genome of an ancient plague, which may shed new light on how certain diseases can either mysteriously disappear or continue to evolve and spread.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">About 1,500 years ago, frequent outbreaks of the world's first known plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, killed more than 25 million people and sickened many others in the Mediterranean basin with "flu-like" symptoms. The pandemic, which was called the Justinian Plague after the sixth-century Byzantine emperor Justinian I, lasted to the mid-eighth century.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Now, researchers in Germany have sequenced the genome of the Y. pestis strain that they believe caused the Justinian Plague but hasn't been seen since, according to a new study published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Variations of Y. pestis are thought to have caused at least three known plague pandemics. The Justinian plague was the first, and the Black Death, a pandemic that emerged in the Middle Ages and killed up to half of the European population, was the second. The third plague pandemic began in late 19th-century China, giving rise to many of the subsequent plagues that exist today.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">The newly sequenced genome reveals that the Y. pestis strain linked to the Justinian Plague indeed differs from the strain linked to the Black Death. (A genome of the Y. pestis strain behind the Black Death was published in a separate study in 2011.).</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Therefore, "this study provides a better understanding of the history and the biology of the disease," said Michal Feldman, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute and the University of Tubingen in Germany, who served as first author of the study.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">"We still do not know why the Justinian plague suddenly vanished," Feldman said. "The bacterium causing the Black Death and the Justinianic one is the same bacterium, Y. pestis, and this was already reported on in previous studies. However, the strains of the bacteria -- you can also call them variations if you like -- causing the two pandemics were different, and the Justinianic strain is extinct today."</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Therefore, "this study provides a better understanding of the history and the biology of the disease," said Michal Feldman, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute and the University of Tubingen in Germany, who served as first author of the study.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">"We still do not know why the Justinian plague suddenly vanished," Feldman said. "The bacterium causing the Black Death and the Justinianic one is the same bacterium, Y. pestis, and this was already reported on in previous studies. However, the strains of the bacteria -- you can also call them variations if you like -- causing the two pandemics were different, and the Justinianic strain is extinct today."</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">The researchers examined the skeletons of two Justinian plague victims. The remains were unearthed in 1966 among several hundred other skeletons in a large medieval cemetery in rural southern Germany.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">"A communal burial indicates simultaneous death, or death close in time of those interred, and could therefore also indicate that an epidemic occurred," said Andreas Rott, a researcher at the State Collection of Anthropology and Palaeoanatomy in Munich, Germany, and a co-author of the study.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">The teeth of the plague victims, a man and a woman, were analyzed and used to extract DNA samples. The researchers separated the human DNA from bacterial DNA in order to sequence the Y. pestis genome.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">After analyzing the reconstructed genome, the researchers found clues that this ancient strain of Y. pestis might have had Chinese origins, which was also found in a 2014 study from a separate research team.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Additionally, the new findings provide evidence that the Justinian plague hit rural Germany. "But more data is needed to determine the rate in which the disease had spread," Feldman said.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">"How the pathogen reached southern Germany is at present unknown. Possibly, it traveled across the Alps from the Mediterranean or from France and western Germany. It could have also traveled up the Danube [River] from the east," Feldman said. "The exact trade routes that the disease traveled in are a subject of debate among scholars. It was transmitted either by people or by rats that were 'traveling' with cargo.".</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Between 1,000 and 2,000 plague cases caused by Y. pestis are reported to the World Health Organization each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The three most endemic countries are Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Peru.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">In the United States, 15 people were infected with the bubonic plague last year, and about four of them died.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Antibiotics and antimicrobials are often used to treat the plague. However, with further research, many scientists think that the genomes of ancient pathogens could lead to improved treatments to eliminate plague-related deaths.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">"I think it's interesting and always good to have more ancient genomes," said Hendrik Poinar, a molecular evolutionary geneticist and biological anthropologist at McMaster University in Canada, who was not involved in the new study.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">More genomes could allow scientists to better detect any small changes in the evolution of a pathogen that may affect how quickly it can spread and cause disease, Poinar said. "Those sorts of things are critical for understanding eradication in currently plague-hit areas, such as Madagascar."</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">Source: <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/30/health/ancient-plague-genome/index.html">http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/30/health/ancient-plague-genome/index.html</a></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=5544835517721897626&postID= 4153299594762604421&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9Bov-5jxblscorzGCopVL5Xz68i6dvP9jIudFNjEHqR8MMdmVfysddhDjGUhuvlerb67aHnfQDJEUeUQZ5kjo_Wx4ig1t1Up2WOpNkMj-NaNLwPtxqdA3ez_SOd-1IwiRZWwI2BCbpA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=5544835517721897626&postID= 4153299594762604421&target=twitter" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMggqAn9B6n_ue3iBOqDQgfJmfpRxWvLyKJRt7IFP17wasPqRAsizTNNHpZHUKMuDMZm5A4duwa4m0IFs-cBh79J03YQVVToXxjf2LZ6qNn4CyLwa8Wy-c4jj2UC8QFH081Ja_q0iaXdM/s1600/sharetw185.png" /></a></div>

DNA Global News Innovations Professional Technology Why Scientists reconstructed an ancient plague

Scientists have just reconstructed the genome of an ancient plague, which may shed new light on how certain diseases can either mysteriou...

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Liquid Biopsies Using New IBM Microchip

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj6gPwMri_CLSUOlFwepbohdUIGQDltFpHg9ZSBzvWW3INhvIQkNLFCXzWIlGDOhpYEcpMMG_8CMoKRZlXcb3Nf3H4_DhRfbSHCpKi8_El9PeYUZXq0gKmPEMoEK7YEns1y_4YhXdyDUvt/s1600/Microchip+Biopsy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj6gPwMri_CLSUOlFwepbohdUIGQDltFpHg9ZSBzvWW3INhvIQkNLFCXzWIlGDOhpYEcpMMG_8CMoKRZlXcb3Nf3H4_DhRfbSHCpKi8_El9PeYUZXq0gKmPEMoEK7YEns1y_4YhXdyDUvt/s400/Microchip+Biopsy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: large;">A microfluidic device was created by IMB that is capable to sort microscopic particles down to 20nn. This will enable scientists to separate exosomes from body fluids and will be able to serve as trackers for biomarkers for cancer and other diseases.<br /><br />Cell membranes release Exosomes that contain genetic and protein information, these can be spotted in cancer cells also. This is important  with regards to the goal of developing liquid biopsies from blood samples.<br /><br />Deterministic Lateral Displacement (DLD) pillar array is used by the new IBM microchip. Exosomes from other sample components are separated by this new technology and  accurately sort based on size. <br /><br />Scientists will be able to compare exosomes and study these exosomes giving them the capability in source identification. Although not exactly a cancer detector, early diagnosis and screening of the variety of cancer is Made possible.<br /><br />The microchip is already being tested in helping the early diagnosis of prostate cancer doing away with traditional biopsies..<br /><br />Source: Readings from http://www.medgadget.com/2016/08/ibms-new-microchip-to-make-liquid-biopsies-possible.html<br /></span></div> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=5544835517721897626&postID= 8916939436179512215&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9Bov-5jxblscorzGCopVL5Xz68i6dvP9jIudFNjEHqR8MMdmVfysddhDjGUhuvlerb67aHnfQDJEUeUQZ5kjo_Wx4ig1t1Up2WOpNkMj-NaNLwPtxqdA3ez_SOd-1IwiRZWwI2BCbpA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=5544835517721897626&postID= 8916939436179512215&target=twitter" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMggqAn9B6n_ue3iBOqDQgfJmfpRxWvLyKJRt7IFP17wasPqRAsizTNNHpZHUKMuDMZm5A4duwa4m0IFs-cBh79J03YQVVToXxjf2LZ6qNn4CyLwa8Wy-c4jj2UC8QFH081Ja_q0iaXdM/s1600/sharetw185.png" /></a></div> <br />

DNA Equipment Health IT Innovations Technology Liquid Biopsies Using New IBM Microchip

A microfluidic device was created by IMB that is capable to sort microscopic particles down to 20nn. This will enable scientists to separ...

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Forensic DNA technology: A powerful tool for judicial reform

<br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">DNA testing is the most powerful tool for human identification. Since its discovery in the mid-1980s, DNA profiling had caused a paradigm shift in the identification of victims, perpetrators and witnesses in numerous cases. The identification of genetic markers that are highly variable in human populations is a major step toward the establishment of reference as well as criminal databases needed for statistical evaluation of matching DNA evidence, or identification of repeat offenders, respectively. In addition, the chemical stability of a DNA molecule against harsh environmental challenges such as extreme temperatures and high humidity makes it more suitable for criminal investigations which lasts for months, even years in the Philippines. Moreover, the fact that a person inherits one’s DNA from one’s parents, provides an investigator with alternative reference samples, when an individual’s own reference biological sample is unavailable.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Recent advances in forensic DNA testing are now paving the way for reforming the manner by which cases are resolved in courts of law through the way suspected offenders are apprehended during a criminal investigation. Firstly, the availability of new markers which are more variable across different populations, adds to the increased power of discrimination once more genetic markers are used. From the time when DNA testing only involved seven to nine genetic markers to evaluate if crime scene evidence matches a suspect’s profile, as well as to determine relationships, to the current battery of 21 autosomal markers and 23 male-specific markers, the capacity of DNA profiling to differentiate individuals has increased significantly. The use of automated and expert systems for large-scale analysis has also been found to reduce manual errors and to increase output per unit time. The use of several dyes in a single multiplex system provides more information from the same amount of genetic material compared to reactions targeting only one genetic marker but requiring the same amount of DNA that was common in the early 1990s.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">More recent developments involve the use of information derived from mutation rates of a group of genetic markers, known as short tandem repeats, located on the Y-chromosome (Y-STRs), which enables us to differentiate from paternally related male persons. Scientists, including those in our laboratory at UP Diliman (www.dnaforensic.org), are continuing to search for new and better polymorphic markers for purposes of human identification. This work will be undertaken within the Program on Forensics and Ethnicity of the Philippine Genome Center wherein advances in genomics such as next generation sequencing technology (NGS), as well as microarray work, will be used to accelerate the process of discovery of genes which are highly variable in Philippine populations (www.pgc.up.edu.ph).</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Secondly, the development of more robust reaction mixes coupled with shorter PCR products has also opened the possibility of re-testing old case samples which may have yielded negative results such as in cold cases, or in the re-opening of cases wherein prisoners continue to claim their innocence and relevant biological samples are still available (post-conviction DNA testing). Recently, the Innocence Project Philippines Network was launched at the National Bilibid Prison and the Correctional Institute of Women (https://www.facebook.com/InnocenceProject Philippines). The Network consists of student volunteers in legal aid clinics of the law schools of the University of the Philippines, De La Salle University and Ateneo de Davao; law faculty, lawyers providing pro-bono work, NGOs, private citizens and scientists at the UP DNA laboratory who are working together to evaluate prospective wrongful conviction cases. In its initial phase, the volunteers are tasked to find cases that have become final and executory but that may be re-opened for post-conviction DNA testing following the Rules on DNA Evidence that was promulgated by the Supreme Court in 2007. In the Philippines wherein DNA testing of cases such as People vs. Hubert Webb et al. and People vs. Paco Larranaga et al. could have provided answers to many questions and confirmed or negated witnesses’ testimonies, the use of post-conviction DNA testing, that is now recognized by the Supreme Court, remains to be realized.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thirdly, the US FBI recently reported the development of faster and portable DNA analytical systems that would allow investigators to generate DNA profiles on site, thereby increasing the chances of apprehending the real perpetrator almost in real time. The speed and accuracy of these portable DNA systems are crucial in criminal investigations. In the Philippines where no DNA legislation exists governing the collection, handling and storage of crime scene evidence as well as in the establishment and security of criminal databases, the use of these analytical systems will not have its maximum effect. More importantly, as science, particularly genetics, continues to expand its forensic applications, there is an urgent need for revising the curriculum of relevant courses such as criminology, public administration, political science and law, into incorporating relevant science and genetics topics, in order to improve the education of our future law enforcement personnel, administrators, politicians, legislators, lawyers and judges. Only with an increased appreciation and recognition of science and its numerous uses at the service of society, could we maximize the fruits of scientific research and discoveries that scientists, including Philippine scientists, are making for the good of all.</span></div> <br /> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCC-pQflmtd9E8w4DhfbIkqQbotf37o7SszNDasY6POwOSt_R4NmsJEeHJJo_qgris6ByrxYjPcvfQYGDI-wEBLG03hpOAxu-JMPtEQpWZnkYL6VVy3m4Xfi0eEM-Jix3WwlOsW6pWd4j3/s1600/cora.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCC-pQflmtd9E8w4DhfbIkqQbotf37o7SszNDasY6POwOSt_R4NmsJEeHJJo_qgris6ByrxYjPcvfQYGDI-wEBLG03hpOAxu-JMPtEQpWZnkYL6VVy3m4Xfi0eEM-Jix3WwlOsW6pWd4j3/s320/cora.jpg" width="317" /></span></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The author, Maria Corazon A. De Ungria, Ph.D., received the NAST Outstanding Young Scientist Award in 2003 for Molecular Biology. She is the current head of the DNA Analysis Laboratory, Natural Sciences Research Institute of UP Diliman, the director of the Program on Forensic and Ethnicity of the Philippine Genome Center, and a member of the Board of the Innocence Project Philippines Network. She has appeared as expert witness in cases involving disputed parentage issues and in relation to criminal cases.  She provided her technical assistance during the formulation of the Rules on DNA Evidence and her opinion on different bills regarding forensic DNA technology. The UP-NSRI DNA Laboratory continues to offer its parentage testing and DNA profiling expertise as part of its commitment to serve the community. The laboratory may be contacted at (63) (2)  9252965, +639189136284 and updnalab@gmail.com.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=5544835517721897626&postID=7407130015781708373&target=facebook" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA9Bov-5jxblscorzGCopVL5Xz68i6dvP9jIudFNjEHqR8MMdmVfysddhDjGUhuvlerb67aHnfQDJEUeUQZ5kjo_Wx4ig1t1Up2WOpNkMj-NaNLwPtxqdA3ez_SOd-1IwiRZWwI2BCbpA/s1600/sharefb185.png" /></a> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=5544835517721897626&postID=7407130015781708373&target=twitter" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMggqAn9B6n_ue3iBOqDQgfJmfpRxWvLyKJRt7IFP17wasPqRAsizTNNHpZHUKMuDMZm5A4duwa4m0IFs-cBh79J03YQVVToXxjf2LZ6qNn4CyLwa8Wy-c4jj2UC8QFH081Ja_q0iaXdM/s1600/sharetw185.png" /></a></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /></div>

Advocacy DNA DOH Global News Movers and Shakers Op Ed Policy Forensic DNA technology: A powerful tool for judicial reform

DNA testing is the most powerful tool for human identification. Since its discovery in the mid-1980s, DNA profiling had caused a paradigm ...

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