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DNA replication
Replication of genetic material has turned out to be a lot more complex than at first assumed, and one of the latest discoveries is that the switches that initiate the process may also keep it under control. in a study of a single-celled salt-tolerant organism, Halafrax volcanii, scientists from the University of Nottingham, working with colleagues in China and Malaysia, found that removing genetic switches that initiate DNA replication in eukaryote cells, such as those that make up multi-celled organisms, including humans, produced an unexpected result. instead of stopping replication, a chain reaction began around Halaferax volcanii’s chromosomes and that enabled them not only to grow but to do so faster. as the scientists reported in Nature, the rate of replication increased by ten per cent. this particular micro-organism belong to the archaea, a distinctive branch of life that occur in extreme environments. these micro-organisms evolved a long time ago, and the scientists think that this alternative process of reproduction could be a throw-back to earlier times. as with many other fundamental processes, those involved in replication have been retained and adapted over the course of evolution. As one of the researchers, Dr Conrad nieduszynski from the University of Nottingham, observed, in higher animals, a similar return to this primitive process could explain why cancer cells go out of control.
What’s in store for the Sun?
nothinG lasts forever, and although the sun will be around for a long time to come, it will eventually come to an end. What exactly will happen is hard to tell because astronomers have only been looking at the sun for 400 of its 4.6 billion years. However, astronomers, using the ESO Very Large Telescope, have found sun-like stars that are older and younger than our sun. a star located 250 light years away from earth in the constellation of Capricornus, and known as HIP 102152, is almost four billion years older than our Sun. Another star, known as 18 Scorpli, is just 2.9 billion years old compared to our own sun’s age of 4.6 billion years. By comparing the spectrograph signatures of these stars, the astronomers concluded that lithium is lost with age. in reporting the findings, TalaWanda Monroe from Universidade de são paulo said that stars somehow destroy their lithium as they age.
UPFRONT
Bio-explorers
BiochemistRy undergraduates from nUi Galway have been going out into schools to help 5th and 6th class primary students to explore the living cell. over the past year the volunteers have run workshops in more than 20 schools. in the latest development, Naomi Lavelle, Science Spin’s Dr How, has been working with the team in 1st and 2nd primary classes. During the workshops pupils learn about the different cells in the body, and they find out how to extract DNA from living matter. With support from the Wellcome Trust, Cell Explorers will be coming to more schools during 2014. Muriel Grenon, who is involved in the project said that participation in cell explorers is becoming part of the
undergraduate curriculum. through this involvement, undergraduates learn how to communicate effectively, and school students get hands-on experience of biology.
More milk
With the ending of quota restrictions, milk production is expected to rise sharply. At a Teagasc dairy conference last November, the Chief Executive of Dairygold, Jim Wolfe, said that plans are being made to accomodate the extra supply. Supplies to Dairygold are expected to increase by 57 per cent by 2020. Dairy farmers are being encouraged by Teagasc to go up in scale, and according to Tom O’Dwyer, head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer, average herd size by 2020 could be 100 cows on 50 hectares.
Walsh Fellowships
UnDeR the Walsh Fellowship 50 new graduates a year are given the opportunity to conduct research with a university partner in support of teagasc objectives. currently there are 200 ongoing Fellowships, and each researcher receives support for a period of three or four years. Now in its 50th year, Teagasc has invited industry to become more involved in supporting agri-food research. many of the former Walsh fellows now work in industry, where their skills and knowledge are being used to build capacity. In November, thirteen Walsh fellows presented their work at the RDs and 33 postgraduates had posters of their research on display. Patrick Gillespie, Walsh Fellow at the teagasc Rural economy Research Centre in Athenry and NUI Galway, was presented with the RDs medal for his work on efficient use of grass by dairyfarmers. Shane Kennedy, a Walsh Fellow based at the teagasc crops Research centre in oak park and SRUC Edinburgh, was winner of the best poster award.
SCIENCE SPIN Issue 62 Page 2
Storing memories
it is generally thought that our memories are stored in part of the brain called the hippocampus. However, two scientists, Mazahir T Hasan from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, and José Maria Delado-Garcia from the University Pablo de Olavide in Seville, have shown that memory is not confined to the hippocampus. Using mice, the researchers were able to block memory-forming connections being made in the motor cortex, which is on the outer surface of the brain. the mice had been genetically modified so that the receptors needed to allow messages through from one synapse to the next would not work. By conditioning the mice to blink every time they received a stimulus and a distinctive sound, the researchers were able to demonstrate that mice with and without memory forming connections in the cortex behaved differently. Normal mice blinked on hearing the sound, while those without the receptor failed to remember the connection between a stimulus and the sound. As the researchers point out, our ideas on where memories are stored will have to be revised.