Digest of the journal Science
The next abstracts of the most interesting, according to the Genomeweb columnist, articles from the journal Science.
In the article Lgr6 Marks Stem Cells in the Hair Follicle That Generate All Cell Lines of the Skin, published in the latest issue of the journal Science, a group of Swedish and Dutch scientists, led by Hans Clevers, describes the Lgr6 gene, which can serve as a marker of the most primitive epidermal stem cells. With the help of a knock-in of the Lgr6 gene in mice (gene knock-in – insertion into the genome of the host organism of the gene of interest to researchers), scientists found that the Lgr6 gene actively produced the protein encoded by it in the cells of the earliest rudimentary hair formations, and in adult hair follicles cells producing the Lgr6 protein (Lgr6+ cells), were located in a previously uncovered area located directly above the bulge of the hair follicle. The scientists concluded that the activity of the Lgr6 gene is characteristic of the most primitive epidermal cells, since all three types of epidermal cells were formed from pre- and postnatal Lgr6+ cells: hair follicles, sebaceous glands and interfollicular epidermis, and the number of Lgr6+ cells gradually decreased in the hair of mice with age.
In the article MHC Heterozygote Advantage in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus–Infected Mauritian Cynomolgus Macaques, published in the latest issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, an international group of scientists working under the leadership of David O'Connor describes what they found using the example of a population of Mauritanian macaques (Mauritian cynomolgus macaques) infected with the monkey immunodeficiency virus (VIO), an advantage in resisting infection. In animals heterozygous for the genes of the main histocompatibility complex, the number of virus particles in the blood (viral load) was 80 times lower than in homozygous animals.
(Heterozygous – having different variants of the same genes on paired chromosomes; in homozygous individuals, paired genes are the same.
Proteins of the main histocompatibility complex are known primarily for the first of the functions found in them: they determine the immune system's response to foreign tissues, including initiating rejection of transplanted organs. These same proteins play an important role in the immune system as a whole, including in the mechanisms of infection suppression.)
From these data, it follows that among people infected with HIV, individuals who are heterozygous for the genes of the main histocompatibility complex should have an advantage in overcoming infection. Scientists believe that the result they have obtained can form the basis for the development of effective HIV vaccines.
Daria Chervyakova
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on Genomeweb materials: This Week in Science, March 12, 2010
15.03.2010