I want to eat your brains...

I want to eat your brains…

In the last of my Halloween blogs, I am choosing to blog about zombies. So what does zombies have to do with molecular biology? Well according to a recent article published in August, “Gene expression during zombie ant biting behavior reflects the complexity underlying fungal parasitic behavioral manipulation,” it has everything to do with it! But I will get to that in a minute.

In general, zombies are thought to occur through the reanimation of human corpses. The creature is deemed fictional. The word zombie comes from Haitian folklore, where it refers to the deceased being revitalized through necromancy of a bokor, or witch. The zombie is controlled by the bokor, forced to be his or her slave.

Zombies can be traced back in literature to discussion of resurrection of the undead in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein literature by H.P. Lovecraft. However, currently zombies are all the rage and can be seen in art, comics, videogames, tv shows, and movies, with one of the most popular being the Walking Dead. In 2011, the CDC published a graphic novel titled “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse,” and in the same year the Weather Channel published an article “How to Weather the Zombie Apocalypse.” All of the cultural media surrounding zombies is fine and dandy, but can zombies really exist?

 

So far, no actual zombies, the kind that were human have existed. But from what I understand the disease does exist in plants and insects, specifically in the ant. The study focuses on carpenter ants infected by the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis and their biting behavior curtailed from infection. After infection, and upon observation of biting, samples were taken and a mixed RNA-Sequence analysis was performed on them. The O. unilateralis genome was also sequenced. From the experimentation, the results showed that the majority of fungal genes that up-regulated during manipulated biting behavior are exclusive to the explicit fungus’ genome. The study also showed that the fungus controlled immune and neural stress reactions during biting, and reduced the ant’s chemosensory communication ability, which instigated apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Furthermore, the genes that remained up-regulated encoded for proteins that produced effects on behavior as well as proteins that were responsible for the biosynthesis of alkaloids.

So zombies do exist! I would be interested to know if other fungus in the same wheelhouse would produce similar effects, and if any of the manipulating fungus would have the same effect on invertebrates or mammals. The article was super interesting, and I would enjoy seeing where science goes with this topic over the next ten years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4545319/ for more on the study regarding zombie ants

For more information on zombie plants, please read this peer reviewed article, http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d1ded09f-a690-49c9-a22c-1e1981ea20cc%40sessionmgr4002&vid=7&hid=4203.

 

It's just a bunch of hocus pocus...

It’s Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus…

In the middle ages, bread was prepared with rye. I bet you are asking what the hell does bread have to do with witches and how does this relate to molecular biology? Well, the fungus ergot, Claviceps purpurea, can be found on damp rye, and when a person eats very little, it can be a powerful hallucinogen. The hallucinogen that is responsible is ergotamine and lysergic acid amide, which is structurally similar to LSD and contains alkaloids. An alkaloid is a cluster of naturally occurring molecular compounds that are comprised of basic nitrogen atoms. (That is what this has to do with molecular biology, in case you were wondering…) However, in great quantities, it can be fatal. People who ate the bread often danced eccentrically in the streets, jibber-jabbering gobbledygook, and foamed at the mouth, until they fell down in the streets from fatigue. However, others who ingested it, suffered from St. Anthony’s fire, which caused mass outbreaks of seizures, diarrhea, vomiting, itching, and dry gangrene in the extremities.

For the drug user to intake their drugs, they practiced a delivery method that was more complex than ingestion. When ingested orally, the consumers would have disagreeable side effects like nausea, itching, headaches, etc. Then it was discovered that absorbing the drugs through the skin would give a better outcome, but the best were the sweat glands and the mucus membranes of the genital region. In order to reach the mucus membranes of the genitalia, early drug users would use brooms. Brooms were also linked to pagan ceremonies, because it was perceived to stabilize both male and female vivacities (the penis fashioned handle and the bristles to describe the female), and was often exercised in marriage services. Other plants were also experimented on for their hallucinogenic properties like nightshade, mandrake, hemlock, and henbane.

Ergotism could have also been a cause for the Salem witch trials. Rye was used heavily by the people of Salem, Massachusetts. Symptoms of ergotism were scratchy skin, burning sensations, phantasms, etc., which were identical to the ailments that the betwiched people of salem complained of. Ergot flourishes in humid environments, which is exactly what the weather condition that transpired in Salem preceding to the Salem witch trials was.

Witches have also been associated with toads, which had been used to exercise religious rites for thousands of years. Some toads are known to secrete hallucinogens from glands on the rear of their heads. Some means of extracting the hallucinogen is licking the toad, milking the toad, and grinding up the desiccated skin of the deceased toad. However, the in some circumstances the desired material contains a mixture of toxic chemicals. Although, the molecule responsible for the hallucinations is bufotenin, a chemical similar to the drug, psilocin, which is found in “shrooms.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/why-do-witches-ride-brooms-nsfw/281037/

http://www.foodreference.com/html/a-ergotism-salem.html

http://www.damninteresting.com/bad-rye-and-the-salem-witches/

Also some of the information was taken from Dr. Chi Yu’s notes on Hallucinogens!  

Getting Wolfy...

Werewolves are shape shifters with rare strength, swiftness, and senses. We have all seen werewolves portrayed in movies and TV shows like Twilight, Underworld, and even the Vampire Diaries, but do werewolves really exist?

In early Greece it was alleged that a person could be changed into a werewolf through consuming the meat of a wolf that had been combined with the meat of a human, which was thought to be a disease that was permanent. In the next centuries, people thought you could become a werewolf in a variety of ways including:  slumbering under a full moon on a Friday, via a curse, being produced under a full moon, by ingesting various herbs, or even consuming water that a wolf had been in contact with. It was also accepted that wolves dressed in a protective wolf skin, which was detached during the day and concealed. If the magical skin was stolen, he or she could be slain.

There are two medical conditions that could explain lycanthropy. One is clinical lycanthropy, where a person believes that he or she is a werewolf. An example can be seen in 1589, where Peter Stubbe alleged to own a wolf skin belt that allowed his transformation into a werewolf. He alleged that he killed at least 12 people over a time span of 25 years, some of which were consumed, and he was burned at the stake during Halloween in 1859. It is thought that he was mentally ill.
The other condition is hypertrichosis, which is a disease where there is excessive growth in body hair in excess of the ordinary quantity when compared to persons of equal age, race, or sex. People have been recorded to bare this disease since the middle Ages, and were often exhibits in fairs and circuses due to their phenotype. Hypertrichosis can be congenital or acquired. Congenital is rare, and is possibly an isolated skin ailment or factor of an alternate disease. Acquired hypertrichosis is more common and may be due to drug side effects, metabolic ailments, malnourishment, anorexia, and even ovarian neoplasms. Other signs of hypertrichosis include: facial disfigurement, irregularities of the eyes, heart, bones and kidneys.
It is thought that hypertrichosis might be due to a excess stimulus of hair follicles with ordinary levels of androgen-like hormones. Another hypothesis is that the physical features are caused by a relapse of a suppressed familial gene. In idiopathic hypertrichosis, some of the patterns of inheritances have been thought to be due an autosomal dominant trait with two plus family members affected or an X-linked type of inheritance. The connection of chromosome 8 has been reported in individuals with congenital hypertrichosis, and in those particular cases males were more ailed than females. However, the actual epidemiology is uncertain.
Therefore, it is my belief that since this disease has been around for long time that this possibly could be the origin of werewolf lore. I also am curious as to whether an individual has been reported with both porphyria and hypertrichosis (a hybrid), and if the relation of the genes involved if they were in conjunction with one another.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=e5ffc643-d94d-42ab-8926-1f6857d64ee3%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4203
http://www.livescience.com/24412-werewolves.html

I WANT TO SUCK YOUR BLOOD!

In honor of Halloween, I thought I would do a couple of posts in regards to the subject. I thought how in the heck could Molecular Biology relate to Halloween? There is no way right? WRONG!

Vampires can be traced back to Romanian prince Vlad Tepes (1431-1476), who fought for freedom from the Ottomans. Most of his methods of execution were sadistic like impaling his enemies on stakes or burning them to death. From this ideology, it is where Bram Stoker got inspiration for his novel Dracula. Historically, vampires are immortal creatures that feed off the blood of the living to survive. The first recorded accounts of vampires were during the Middle Ages in Europe. If something terrible happened to a family or town, whether it be infectious disease or crop failure, they would blame it on vampires. Also during the winter, a body takes longer to decompose, which caused bodies to bloat and blood to run out of the mouth, thus vampirism! However, historically they are thought to be pale, deathly afraid of sunlight, can transform into bats, and can be killed with stakes and holy water. Today they are just a bunch of pansies that sparkle in the sunlight. But what if this historical ideology bares some truth in reality?
 

The answer is it does. There are two diseases that mimic vampirism. They are Porphyria cutanea tarda(PCT) and Renfield’s syndrome.

According to the article, “Cutaneous porphyrias part I: epidemiology, pathogenesis, presentation, diagnosis, and histopathology ,” porphyria is a group of disorders that are characterized by defects in heme production, which results in a buildup of toxic heme precursors. The symptoms of the diseases include: photosensitivity, severe burning, abscesses, and scarring. They are categorized into categories based on whether the toxic precursors build up in the liver or bone marrow. The kind that builds up in the liver are subdivided into two categories: acute and chronic, and the specific kind that we are talking about is chronic.

Porphyria cutanea tarda can either be familial, developed, and in exceptional cases it occurs in patients with a porphyrinogen III decarboxylase (UROD) gene), which affects multiple family members indicating a genetic element. A flaw in UROD, which drives the fifth step in heme synthesis causes PCT. Diminished UROD activity escalates the production of symptom-causing carboxylic porphyrins. Porphyrins in the skin absorb ultraviolet A, producing peroxides that gives rise to oxidative damage and inflammation. PCT is a multifactorial disease, alcohol, Hepatitis C, and HIV are commonly associated.

So intolerance to sunlight, check! What about Renfield’s syndrome?

According to “Vampirism-Clinical Vampirism: Reinfield’s Syndrome,” Renfield’s syndrome or clinical vampirism is commonly found in men. The patients with this ailment are often diagnosed with schizophrenia or one of the paraphilias based on their behavioral exhibitions, such as illusions of being a vampire, fetishes, and habitual blood drinking. Renfield’s syndrome develops in stages from licking one’s own blood (autovampirism) to consuming animal blood, to zoophagia(ingesting live animals), to actual vampirism. Blood drinkers accept the belief that blood provides them with the life force that they need for survival, and often indulge in the ideology that it will help them achieve immortality.  

Blood drinking schizophrenics, check!

So vampires do exist! Just not as one entity. Joking…So, what happens when you combine Porphyria with Renfield’s disease? I am curious if there has ever been a documented case. I wonder if there are any genetic factors linking the two. It could explain any sightings of vampires in history, and explain some of the ideology surrounding the myth when it comes to dislike of sunlight and blood drinking.

Tune in next week for werewolf talk!

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8e162219-3436-4d30-b1a3-62ed87be9282%40sessionmgr115&vid=5&hid=113

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=48ec0d81-d9cc-41d1-8c17-6f9018987534%40sessionmgr110&hid=113

http://www.livescience.com/5924-real-science-history-vampires.html

Autism and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Autism and autism spectrum disorders are disorders that deal with brain development, which are characterized by difficulty with social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as, repetitive behavior. And fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are conditions that cause physical and behavioral problems in children, such as trouble with acquiring and retaining knowledge, following directions, emotional stability, etc. But what do these two types of disorders have to do with each other? 

The recent study, Epigenetic Mechnisms: A Possible Link Between Autism Spectrum Disorders and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, shows how there is a possible link between polygenetic, epigenetic, and environemental factors and autism. According to the artcicle, there recently has been progress in understanding the genetics of autism. In fact, other recent studies have shown that there may be environmental factors that interact with genetic factors that increase the risk of autism. It has been also noted that epigenetic mechanisms might affect gene transcription alterations on passageways that are involved with neurological and cognitive development, social skills, behavior, etc. Furthermore, hazardous prenatal events may alter neurodevelopment on a long term scale. It is discussed that other studies have also shown that epigentic dysregulation is a key component in fetal alcohol syndrome disorder. However, according to this particular study, more research needs to be done, because more epigenetic investigation can shed light on neurodevelopmental disorders and their shared molecular mechanisms, as well as their prevention. 

I found this article intriguing. It did a good job of explaining how FASD and ASD are connected. It made my curious as to what other disorders are linked to fetal alcohol syndrome. It also made me think of how daft women are who drink while they are pregnant or that do drugs, and how obvious it is that they should have been sterilized. However, since this does occur, I do hope that more research is done, so preventative measures can be taken, or even possible a cure for autism or FASD, since currently there is no cure. 


http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.shsu.edu/science/article/pii/S1043661815002157
https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/fetalalcoholspectrumdisorders.html