Category Archives: Transhuman News

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Nov-2014

Contact: Glenna Picton picton@bcm.edu 713-798-4710 Baylor College of Medicine @bcmhouston

HOUSTON - (Nov. 25, 2014) - An international collaboration of scientists including Baylor College of Medicine has completed the first genome sequence of a myriapod, Strigamia maritima - a member of a group venomous centipedes that care for their eggs - and uncovered new clues about their biological evolution and unique absence of vision and circadian rhythm.

Over 100 researchers from 12 countries completed the project. They published their work online today in the journal PLOS Biology.

"This is the first myriapod and the last of the four classes of arthropods to have its genome sequenced," said Dr. Stephen Richards, assistant professor in the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor, where the sequencing of the project was completed, and the corresponding author on the report. "Arthropods are particularly interesting for scientific study because they diverged into more species than any other animal group as they adapted in many ways to conquer the planet. The genome of the myriapod in comparison with previously completed genomes of the other arthropod classes gives us an important view of the evolutionary changes of these exciting species."

Dr. Ariel Chipman, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, Dr. David Ferrier, of The University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom, and Dr. Michael Akam of the University of Cambridge in the UK, together with Richards served as key players in the collaboration.

"The arthropods have been around for over 500 million years and the relationship between the different groups and early evolution of the species is not really well understood," said Chipman, associate professor at the Hebrew University. "We have good sampling of insects but this is the first time a centipede, one of the more simple arthropods - simple in terms of body plan, no wings, simple repetitive segments, etc. -- has been sequenced. This is a more conservative genome, not necessarily ancient or primitive, but one that has retained ancient features more than other groups."

"From fossil evidence, we know the myriapods are one of three independent arthropod invasions of the land (from the sea), in addition to the insects and spiders. So they had to find a way to smell chemicals in air, rather then taste them in water. The team identified large gene expansions of the gustatory (taste) receptors suspected to fill the olfactory role that olfactory (smell) receptors play in insects," Richards said. "This is a nice example of parallel evolution where different group of genes expanded, providing a different solution to the same problem."

One interesting finding revolved around this particular centipede group losing its eyes at least 200 million years ago.

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International collaboration completes genome sequence of centipede

25.11.2014 - (idw) CECAD - Cluster of Excellence at the University of Cologne

The team of scientists led by Prof. Dr. Bjrn Schumacher at CECAD Cluster of Excellence at the University of Cologne has shown that a longevity assurance program in nematodes increases tolerance to genome damage. DNA damage accumulates with age and results in an aging-associated decrease in tissue function. Defects in DNA repair mechanisms can therefore lead to premature aging and early death of affected patients. The Cologne scientists findings open up new perspectives for the treatment of aging-associated diseases. Cologne, 24 November 2014. The genome in every cell is constantly under physical and chemical attack. These attacks can come from outside, such as UV radiation from sunlight, or from inside, like the toxic byproducts of our own metabolism. DNA damage can interfere already with developmental growth and the invariant gradual accumulation of DNA damage drives the aging process. People born with defects in the DNA repair systems suffer from retarded body growth and succumb to premature aging already during childhood. How does the body respond when DNA damage cannot be repaired or accumulates with age? Prof. Dr. Bjrn Schumacher at the CECAD Research Center: We investigated nematodes with exactly the same genetic defects in DNA repair as patients who suffer from growth retardation and premature aging. When the nematodes are unable to repair the damaged DNA, they activate a longevity assurance response. The Cologne-based research team has published their influential results in the current issue of Nature Cell Biology on 2014, November 24.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Bjrn Schumacher CECAD Excellence Cluster at the University of Cologne Telephone +49 221 478-84202 bjoern.schumacher@uni-koeln.de

Astrid Bergmeister MBA Head CECAD PR & Marketing Telephone + 49 (0) 221-478 84043 astrid.bergmeister@uk-koeln.de Weitere Informationen:http://www.cecad.uni-koeln.de

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Genome Damage Tolerance Extends Lifespan

1 hour ago Strigamia maritima. Credit: ArthropodBase wiki

An international collaboration of scientists including Baylor College of Medicine has completed the first genome sequence of a myriapod, Strigamia maritima - a member of a group venomous centipedes that care for their eggs - and uncovered new clues about their biological evolution and unique absence of vision and circadian rhythm.

Over 100 researchers from 12 countries completed the project. They published their work online today in the journal PLOS Biology.

"This is the first myriapod and the last of the four classes of arthropods to have its genome sequenced," said Dr. Stephen Richards, assistant professor in the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor, where the sequencing of the project was completed, and the corresponding author on the report. "Arthropods are particularly interesting for scientific study because they diverged into more species than any other animal group as they adapted in many ways to conquer the planet. The genome of the myriapod in comparison with previously completed genomes of the other arthropod classes gives us an important view of the evolutionary changes of these exciting species."

Dr. Ariel Chipman, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, Dr. David Ferrier, of The University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom, and Dr. Michael Akam of the University of Cambridge in the UK, together with Richards served as key players in the collaboration.

"The arthropods have been around for over 500 million years and the relationship between the different groups and early evolution of the species is not really well understood," said Chipman, associate professor at the Hebrew University. "We have good sampling of insects but this is the first time a centipede, one of the more simple arthropods - simple in terms of body plan, no wings, simple repetitive segments, etc.has been sequenced. This is a more conservative genome, not necessarily ancient or primitive, but one that has retained ancient features more than other groups."

"From fossil evidence, we know the myriapods are one of three independent arthropod invasions of the land (from the sea), in addition to the insects and spiders. So they had to find a way to smell chemicals in air, rather then taste them in water. The team identified large gene expansions of the gustatory (taste) receptors suspected to fill the olfactory role that olfactory (smell) receptors play in insects," Richards said. "This is a nice example of parallel evolution where different group of genes expanded, providing a different solution to the same problem."

One interesting finding revolved around this particular centipede group losing its eyes at least 200 million years ago.

No genes related solely to vision were found in the genome, and interestingly, genes related to the circadian clock were also missing. The circadian clock regulates sleep and causes jetlag and also relies on light input to synchronize with day and night.

"This teaches us about how evolution works and how things change, how things can be conserved and others lost," said Chipman. "In general, this just gives us a better understanding of biology and how it works over long periods of time."

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International team completes genome sequence of centipede

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Nov-2014

Contact: PLOS Biology biologypress@plos.org 415-590-3486 PLOS

The arthropods are one of Earth's real success stories, with more species of arthropod than in any other animal phylum, but our knowledge of arthropod genomes has been heavily skewed towards the insects. Recent work has furnished us with the genome sequences of an arachnid and a crustacean, but the myriapods (centipedes and millipedes) have remained the one class of arthropods whose genomes are still in the dark.

An international team of scientists (over 100 from 15 countries) with Stephen Richards (Baylor College of Medicine) as senior author has now sequenced the genome of the centipede Strigamia maritima, enabling them to reconstruct many features of the genetic make-up of the ancestral arthropod that lived more than half a billion years ago. In a report publishing November 25 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, the team reveals our first glimpse of a myriapod genome and uses it to explore the genetic basis of centipede biology and of the incredible diversification of arthropods.

Myriapods probably arose from marine ancestors that invaded the land more than 400 million years ago. They have a large number of near-identical segments, each bearing one or two pairs of legs. Despite their name, centipedes never have a hundred legs (the number of pairs is always odd), though Strigamia itself gets close with 45 to 51 pairs. Although most of us are familiar with centipedes in gardens and woodland, Strigamia lives in coastal habitats, and like most centipedes is a venomous carnivore.

Over a decade ago a team from Cambridge University, headed by Professor Michael Akam, started making the long trip up to Brora on the coast of the Moray Firth in Scotland to lie on their bellies on the beach, digging under the pebbles to hunt out their favorite centipede. Strigamia is favored by scientists for the accessibility of its nests, from which embryos can be gathered for study - making the species an ideal candidate for obtaining the first genome sequence from a myriapod, and opening the door to new understandings of the developmental biology and ecology of these secretive animals.

Ariel Chipman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and David Ferrier (University of St. Andrews) are lead co-authors of the report. "This genome of Strigamia has proved to be particularly valuable in deducing the content of important gene families in the ancestral arthropod, this ancestor then being the starting point for the evolution of the huge diversity of arthropods that we currently see today", said David Ferrier.

"There has been a high turn-over in arthropod gene and genome organization, with lots of rearrangements and plenty of gene losses during the evolution of animals like the insects. The sorts of reconstructions that have been made possible by this new myriapod genome provide a foundation for delving more deeply into the biology of these genetic changes to see how they were linked to the diversification of the incredible range of body forms and modes of life that we now find in the arthropods."

One of the most surprising findings is that these centipedes appear to have lost the genes encoding all of the known light receptors used by animals, as well as the genes controlling circadian rhythm - the body's internal clock.

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Blind scottish centipede unlocks clues to the origins of creepy crawlies