The biotechnology community has been taken aback by a sudden and aggressive attack by an organization calling itself Humans for Bacterial Suffrage (HuBS). The group claims that an insidious culture of what it calls “eukaryotic oppression” is enslaving trillions of bacteria, subjecting them to perverse genetic experiments, and exploiting their labour in the execution of profitable biochemical reactions. Says HuBS president David Clostridium, “Bacteria are routinely abducted from their natural habitats, sold on the open market, unwillingly subjected to invasive genetic manipulations, and forced to breed in captivity. Multiple generations of enslaved lifeforms are set to work expressing secondary metabolites…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From May, 2006
BT CORN: IS IT WORTH THE RISK?
Bt corn, a genetically modified organism (GMO), has been both the poster-child and thorn-in-the-side of the plant biotechnology industry from the late 1990’s to present. There are several versions of this transgenic crop that each have a gene from an insect pathogen, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which encodes a protein toxic to the European corn borer (ECB), an insect pest that eats and destroys corn stems (see Figure 1). Bt corn has proven effective in reducing crop damage due to ECB, yet public opposition to Bt corn has escalated amid fears of human health and environmental risks associated with the production…
MONKEY VS. SEA MONKEY: WHICH IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
When I was in grade school, my best friend had a monkey. I don’t know what kind it was, but I can tell you this: My friend’s parents had a Kung-Fu outfit for this monkey. His name was Bentley and he was kept is a large cage in the basement. When you got too close to his cage, he would grab at your shirt and tear it. But, if you were my friend’s dad, he would let you get into the cage and wrestle him. Bentley had some scrap in him, that’s for sure. I used to love watching the…
THE BIG BAD BAC: BACTERIAL ARTIFICIAL CHROMOSOMES
(August 2004) Genetic Carrying Handles: Cloning Vectors In order to clone a gene, its DNA sequence must be attached to some kind of carrier, also made of DNA, that can take it into the cell. Biologists call these carriers vectors. A vector acts like a handle for the DNA, and it also contains other tools such as an origin of replication and a selective marker. The origin of replication is a sequence of DNA that the host cell recognizes that allows it to make more copies of the clone DNA sequence. This origin sequence is where the cell begins copying…
ANTISENSE RNA
(August 2003) Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single stranded molecule that is used as the template for protein translation. It is possible for RNA to form duplexes, similar to DNA, with a second sequence of RNA complementary to the first strand. This second sequence is called antisense RNA (Figure 1). The formation of double stranded RNA can inhibit gene expression in many different organisms including plants, flies, worms and fungi. Figure 1 Formation of antisense RNA blocks translation. Co-Suppression The first discovery of this inhibition in plants was more than a decade ago and occurred in petunias. Researchers were trying…
A CREATIONIST FAQ
Q: What is the principle evidence for Creationism? A: The Holy Bible, of course. After all, is it likely that the author of the Universe would be mistaken about its age? Q: But isn’t the Bible religion and not science? A: Truth is truth. It’s a poor sort of science that ignores truth. Q: But isn’t there a lot of evidence for evolution? A: Not really, most of it is from university professors writing papers for each other. If they didn’t write papers they wouldn’t have jobs. Q: How big was Noah’s ark? A: Big enough. Q: But what about…
SHORTSTOP PROVIDES HUNTINGTON’S CLUES
A debate is going on in Huntington’s research about whether the hallmark protein aggregates found in the brain of patients actually cause the disease. Now, a new “shortstop” may have found part of the answer. But this shortstop isn’t an infielder. It’s a new strain of mouse, one with a mutation expected to cause neurodegeneration — since it’s tailored to make large amounts of the above protein aggregates — only it doesn’t. Shortstop mice were recently created by Elizabeth Slow and colleagues at the University of British Columbia. And their unexpected ability to resist neurological damage is causing their creators…
THE DEBRIEFING
QAJAOG: Greetings, Captain Zabujek. ZABUJEK: Your eminence, Emperor Qajaog, I am honored by this private audience. QAJAOG: Captain, word of your exploits has reached the farthest reaches of the Federated Republic of the Empire. Is it true that you have ventured to the planet called Earth? ZABUJEK: It is true, Your Sliminess. We have journeyed millions of light years and returned safely to report our findings. QAJAOG: Go on. ZABUJEK: As you know, our study required two simple, working-class humans from a small, remote mountain town. Men, of course, preferably gullible and childless and mildly alcoholic. QAJAOG: Yes, of course.…
WEALTH AS A CANCER RISK
Wealth can bring a lot of things to a family and new research is suggesting such things are not always good. One of these is childhood leukemia. Although rare overall, leukemia is one of the most common potentially fatal illnesses that can befall a child, and a new study completed at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver is revealing that a high socioeconomic status can raise the risk of this disease by as much as 14% in Canada. The reasons for the link between wealth and childhood leukemia are not yet clear, but knowing is important nonetheless, since it’s a…