Coulomb Explosion

Admittedly the content from both biology courses so far seem to interest me the most out of all my courses. I can better understand the experiments outlined in scientific articles and such. We just finished off a term in which talked about experimental methods such as using reporter genes, and surprisingly the ones we learned about are actually used in real life! This is especially exciting since we're used to being taught "dumbed down" or "incorrect" versions of the facts in school. (This probably still happening to a certain degree regardless.) We mentioned Craig Venter as well, which I guess goes under the category of "hot topics in recent news".

From Discover:

Biologists Perform Genome Transplant

In June, biologists at the J. Craig Venter institute announced that they had successfully transplanted the genome of one species of bacteria into another bacterial species. "This was the ultimate in identity theft," says Venter, a biologist well known for his private-sector contribution to the sequencing of the human genome. "The chromosome [genome] took over the cell completely, and any characteristics of the original species were lost."

The transplant team took several steps to be sure the transfer was complete. First, they added two genes to the donor species' chromosome: one that made the cells resistant to the antibiotic tetracycline and one that made them turn blue. By dosing all the post-transplant bacteria with tetracycline and looking for blue colonies, the scientists could identify which cells had the donor DNA. Next, they tested all the blue, tetracycline-resistant bacteria for any traces of the recipient species' genome. When they found none, they knew the bacteria must contain only the donor species' genome. Finally, they found that all the proteins manufactured by the new bacteria were characteristic of the donor species.

This is a critical advance in Venter's quest - which he has been pursuing for a decade - to create a fully synthetic life-form. Now, he says, it could be just a matter of months before a living cell stocked with a synthetic genome becomes a reality.

- Jocelyn Rice

The Discover magazine website also has weekly podcasts of Vital Signs articles. Vital Signs is usually my favourite part of the magazine. The articles are all written by doctors who relate one of the previous patient cases they worked on, which often involve unusual or uncommon disorders and diseases. They then outline their thought process on confirming the condition and how to treat it. For example, the most recent Vital Signs article published in the Jan. 2008 issue talks about narcolepsy and cataplexy.