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 GENETICS: Worm Genes Confirmed and Cloned for Proteomic Tool Kit
For the first time, researchers have published an experimental verification of an entire set of genes in a multicellular organism. These results from the worm genome confirm the existence of many predicted genes. They also suggest that more than half the genes in sequenced genomes may need correction to enable systematic studies of the proteins encoded by the genes. The work is reported in the April 7 online Nature Genetics by Marc Vidal and his colleagues.
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 DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY: Diabetes-boosted Oxygen Radicals Block Neural Tube Closure
Oxidative stress may be to blame for higher rates of neural tube defects in diabetic pregnancies, according to research led by Mary Loeken. Diabetic women who are pregnant are warned to keep their glucose levels under control or risk birth defects like spina bifida. But how glucose thwarts the development of certain tissues in the embryo has been unclear. This latest study in a mouse model, published in the April Diabetologia, shows that the oxidative stress caused by diabetes can disrupt expression of a gene needed for neural tube development.
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 EPIDEMIOLOGY: Link Strengthened Between MS and Epstein-Barr
A study in the March 26 Journal of the American Medical Association supports the link between the Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis. Though research on the disease, which affects between 250,000 and 350,000 Americans, has gone on for more than a hundred years, scientists still cannot explain its cause. Kassandra Munger, Alberto Ascherio, and their colleagues report that a high level of antibodies to Epstein-Barr, a virus that infects 95 percent of people, is at least a risk factor for the disease. And these antibodies can be measured several years before the onset of symptoms.
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Copyright 2003 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
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