Nerdy Science Blog

Palm oil is the world most consumed edible oil.  Palm oil is also used as important source of biofuel.

The Genome of oil palms, the plant that produces palm oil, had been sequenced by consortium led by Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Orion Genomics and the Advanced Biotechnology and Breeding Centre.  The sequence completion announced by Datuk Dr Mohd Basri Wahid, director-general of MPOB, at that International Palm Oil Congress 2009.  The consortium sequenced three oil palm genomes from two palm species, which are Elaeis oleifera and Elaeis guineensis (namely pisifera and dura palm).  It is hoped that the completed sequences will help to understand and improve oil yields and resistance to diseases.

MPOB and Orion Genomics will also collaborate with Mogene LC to study epigenetics make-up, a study of mechanisms that turn on and off genes, of the palms to develop oil palms with higher and more rapid yields.

(news)

DNA’s function is not fixed as previously thought.  The interaction of environment and DNA will define its function.  In a study involves 36 brains, scientists from McGill University and Douglas Institute found that maternal care affects the function of the genes.  The subjects included 12 suicide victims with abuse history, 12 suicide victims without abuse history, and 12 controls.  Epigenetic markings in the brains of the abused group were different from other group.  Abused group had its DNA altered and influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function.  HPA is a stress-response that will increase the risk of suicide.  Same results were shown in rats.

Do you see a connection between child abuse and attempted suicide?  I guess Harry Potter got his genes altered at his uncle’s house.

The study was published in February 22 Nature Neuroscience.  Authors included Patrick O McGowan, Aya Sasaki, Ana C D’Alessio, Sergiy Dymov, Benoit Labonté, Moshe Szyf, Gustavo Turecki, and Michael J Meaney.  The study was supported from by grants from the US National Institutes of Health, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Human Frontiers Science Program, and a Maternal Adversity.

Reference:

McGowan, P.O., Sasaki, A., D’Alessio, A.C., Dymov, S., Labonté, B., Szyf, M., Turecki, G. and Meaney, M.J. (2009), Epigenetic regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor in human brain associates with childhood abuse, Nature Neuroscience, doi:10.1038/nn.2270.

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