{"id":132884,"date":"2024-12-03T16:11:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T09:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=132884"},"modified":"2024-12-03T16:11:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T09:11:24","slug":"genes-older-than-animal-life-itself-were-inserted-into-mice-heres-what-happened-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=132884","title":{"rendered":"Genes Older Than Animal Life Itself Were Inserted Into Mice. Here&#8217;s What Happened. : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>With their little beady black eyes and dappled gray fur, the mice born in a recent lab experiment in Hong Kong are unlike any others of their species, or indeed any other animal.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>And yet in spite of their fundamental differences, they couldn&#8217;t appear more ordinary, a fact that reveals an astonishing truth about our evolutionary history.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>The mice were spliced with genes from a single-celled microbe called a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Choanoflagellate\">choanoflagellate<\/a>. Though not an animal itself, the microorganism is closely related to them, having changed little since a time before complex, multicellular life even existed.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, the success of a selection of the choanoflagellate&#8217;s genes in some as complex and multicellular as a mouse gives us new insights into the evolutionary origins of animal traits.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Animals feature what is known as pluripotency; an ability for embryonic  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/stem-cells\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73034\" data-postid=\"144327\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">stem cells<\/a> to differentiate and develop into the variety of tissues that make up a fully developed organism. <span style=\"letter-spacing: -0.025em;\">In spite of not having this talent, choanoflagellates have their own versions of the genes responsible for <\/span><span style=\"letter-spacing: -0.025em;\">pluripotency in animals.  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"letter-spacing: -0.025em;\">By swapping mouse genes for the version found in choanoflagellates, researchers could determine just how similar the two are in their functionality. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By successfully creating a mouse using molecular tools derived from our single-celled relatives, we&#8217;re witnessing an extraordinary continuity of function across nearly a billion years of evolution,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qmul.ac.uk\/media\/news\/2024\/se\/scientists-recreate-mouse-from-gene-older-than-animal-life.html\">says geneticist Alex de Mendoza<\/a> of Queen Mary University in the UK.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The study implies that key genes involved in  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/stem-cells\" class=\"lar_link lar_link_outgoing\" data-linkid=\"73034\" data-postid=\"144327\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\">stem cell<\/a> formation might have originated far earlier than the stem cells themselves, perhaps helping pave the way for the multicellular life we see today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_144345\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-144345\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/mouse-pups.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists Have Built an Entire Mouse Spliced With Genes Older Than Animal Life Itself\" width=\"642\" height=\"717\" class=\"size-full wp-image-144345\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/mouse-pups.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/mouse-pups-372x415.jpg 372w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/mouse-pups-600x670.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-144345\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Neonatal chimeric mouse pups. (Goa et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-54152-x\"><em>Nat. Commun<\/em>.<\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pluripotency is thought to have emerged with the appearance of multicellular animals some 700 million years ago, so it stands to reason that transcription factors associated with stem cell pluripotency, such as those in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/SOX_gene_family\">Sox<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/POU_domain\">POU<\/a> families, are thought to be restricted to multicellular animals.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>But prior research conducted on animal-adjacent microbes suggests that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/cell\/fulltext\/S0092-8674(16)30332-4\">origins<\/a> of pluripotency <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/mbe\/article\/28\/10\/2961\/973845\">predate multicellularity<\/a>. If this is the case, it could be one of the drivers of animal evolution, rather than a consequence of it.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>Choanoflagellate Sox genes have traits similar to those found in mammalian Sox2 genes. In mice, Sox2 interacts with a POU member called Oct4; but choanoflagellate POU genes are incapable of generating pluripotent stem cells.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>A team of researchers led by Ya Gao and Daisylyn Senna Tan of the University of Hong Kong and Mathias Girbig of the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Germany wanted to know what might happen if they replaced the mammalian Sox2 gene with a choanoflagellate Sox gene.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>They grew cloned mouse stem cells and reprogrammed their genomes, replacing Sox2 with choanoflagellate Sox. These cells were injected into embryonic mouse blastocysts that were then implanted into <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pseudopregnancy\">pseudopregnant<\/a> mouse surrogates to be gestated, birthed, and raised in a nurturing environment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_144352\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-144352\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/chimeric-mice.jpg\" alt=\"Scientists Have Built an Entire Mouse Spliced With Genes Older Than Animal Life Itself\" width=\"642\" height=\"403\" class=\"size-full wp-image-144352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/chimeric-mice.jpg 642w, https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/images\/2024\/11\/chimeric-mice-600x377.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-144352\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The chimeric mice at five weeks old. (Gao et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-54152-x\"><em>Nat. Commun.<\/em><\/a>, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The chimeric pups were born with a mix of traits based on their spliced heritage. Obviously they were mice; but they had dark eyes and dark fur patches that indicated their mixed genetics. Otherwise, they were pretty normal \u2013 which suggests that choanoflagellate Sox genes were able to create stem cells compatible with the mouse&#8217;s development.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>This suggests that the tools for creating pluripotency developed in choanoflagellates before multicellularity emerged.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Choanoflagellates don&#8217;t have stem cells, they&#8217;re single-celled organisms, but they have these genes, likely to control basic cellular processes that multicellular animals probably later repurposed for building complex bodies,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qmul.ac.uk\/media\/news\/2024\/se\/scientists-recreate-mouse-from-gene-older-than-animal-life.html\">de Mendoza says<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>The findings suggest that the Sox transcription factors in choanoflagellates hundreds of millions of years ago were biochemically similar to the Sox genes that serve important functions in multicellular organisms today. The inability of choanoflagellate POU to produce pluripotent stem cells, on the other hand, suggests that POU members had to undergo modification to take up the role they play in pluripotency now.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>These results could have implications for stem cell research and stem cell therapies, the researchers say. And they add an interesting layer of complexity to the story of how life diversified on Earth.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our data clearly shows that two of the main gene families involved in vertebrate pluripotency and key developmental genes across animals were already present before the origins of multicellularity,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-54152-x\">the team writes in its paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- START single\/mrec --><br \/>\n<!-- END single\/mrec --><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Eventually, their biochemical capabilities were exapted to build one of the defining cell types of a complex multicellular entity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The research has been published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-024-54152-x\"><i>Nature Communications<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/genes-older-than-animal-life-itself-were-inserted-into-mice-heres-what-happened\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With their little beady black eyes and dappled gray fur, the mice born in a recent lab experiment in Hong Kong are unlike any others of their species, or indeed &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=132884\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132884\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=132884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=132884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}