Science Stories

Blood group A converted into group O by gut bacterial enzymes. Gut Bacterial enzymes provide a way to increase human blood type O supply. Blood transfusions are a daily routine procedure in hospitals. In a day, 16k liters of blood are transfused daily in the United States. Human being has four types of blood group- A, B, AB, O. Blood type A, B, and AB have their own antigens on their surface. Blood Antigens are basically a polysaccharide on the surface of red blood cells.  Type O does not have any antigens on their surface. The demand for blood all over the world is very high, especially during emergency surgeries and operations. Blood transfusion is only possible when the blood group of donor and recipient are matched . If they are not matched , the immune cells of the recipient will attack and destroy the RBCs of the donor. Blood group O does not have an antigen on their surface, thus making them transfusable to any recipient irrespective of the blood group of...

   Using the CRISPR genome editing, researchers have created a chicken resistant to ALV-J Virus.   Chicken is the most important source of food in many countries. It is a preferred food over other meat product as it is considered more hygienic and less expensive. The booming poultry industry is currently estimated to be worth 46.3 billion. Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) has been a major concern for the poultry industry. The virus is responsible for huge economic loss incurred to poultry farmers due to viral infection of chickens. The virus gets inside the cell of chicken by binding to a receptor, called chicken NHE-1 which resides on the surfaces of the chicken cell. This receptor is necessary for the virus to enter the cell. Using CRISPR genome editing, a scientist first collected the germ cells and deleted three nucleotides in a gene that codes for the receptor. The germs cells were grown and made developed into a mature bird. The bird...

Scientists have discovered a bacteriophage that can evade the CRISPR-Cas system of bacteria. The bacteriophage protects its own DNA by forming a nucleus-like compartment and thus shields its own DNA from the CRISPR nuclease. Bacteria have a various defense system that protects them from Bacteriophages. The most important system was Restriction modification (RM) system and CRISPR Cas system. Virus must evolve to avoid these immune pathways of bacteria that targets nucleic acids. The researchers found that jumbo phages (ФKZ) that target pseudomonas were resistant to CRISPR Cas9. On further investigation, they observed a proteinaceous nucleus-like compartment in which the replication of phages DNA takes place. Proteins that are involve in replication, transcription and recombination are localized within the compartment. The compartment blocks that CRISPR nuclease form targeting DNA. This study was published in the journal Nature. References : A bacteriophages nucleus-lik...

Pig-Monkey chimera A team of researchers from China has created the world’s first Pig-Monkey chimera. The scientists created the chimera by injecting monkey stem cells into the egg of a pig. The embryo  was grown  in vitro and later transferred to a surrogate mother. Two piglets  were delivered  16 weeks later. Detail reports: Chimera is a single organism that has DNA from two separate species or individuals. Here the chimeric organism is created from a pig and a monkey. In this research, they first collected the egg of a pig and was grown in the lab for 5 days for activation. They then inject embryonic stem cells (ESCs) of a monkey to the egg and were  grown for another 48 hours. The embryos were then transferred to a recipient surrogate mother. Two piglets were delivered 16 weeks later. However, the two piglets survive for just 28 days due to which it was not possible to observe whether the chimera can develop into mature functional cells. ...

IGIB, New Delhi                          Indian Researchers from ICAR and IGIB have successfully cloned a superior breeding bull of Murrah buffalo, the best dairy breed of buffalo. They used Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) Technology to create an embryo of a bull. SCNT is a technology where somatic cells are used as  a source of Nucleus. In this research, they have used skin cells and semen derived cells to create an embryo. They then transferred the embryos to buffaloes. The buffaloes became pregnant and gave birth a healthy bull. The healthy calf which is now 40 months old. They then checked the quality of the semen and were found to have the same qualities as other donor sperms. This method of production can help to produce breeding bulls to reduce dependency on conventional methods of bull production. SCNT                       Referen...

Crispr , dubbed as the discovery of the century has been used in variety of applications. It is used in genome editing, epigenetic modification, modulation of gene expression, locus identification (CASFISH). Recently it has also been used in drug delivery. Crispr has revolutionised biology. Traditional fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) requires DNA denaturation, while fluorescent labeled- dCas9 assembled in vitro with sgRNA (CASFISH) detects genomic loci only in fixed samples.  Here, this study report a live imaging approach, CRISPR LiveFISH for the first time, that allows real-time study of various chromosomal functions in living cells. They developed CRISPR LiveFISH, an approach that deploys fluorescent gRNA probes assembled with dCas9 to target and label genomic sequences in living cells. They tested CRISPR LiveFISH on cells derived from patients with Patau Syndrome, a Chr13 trisomy genetic disorder that results in organ defects, intellectual and physical ...