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Toronto researchers have discovered that a single molecular event in our cells could hold the key to how we evolved to become the smartest animal on the planet.
Benjamin Blencowe, a professor in the University of Toronto's Donnelly Centre and Banbury Chair in Medical Research, and his team have uncovered how a small change in a protein called PTBP1 can spur the creation of neurons -- cells that make the brain -- that could have fuelled the evolution of mammalian brains to become the largest and most complex among vertebrates.
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The key lays in the process that Blencowe's group studies, known as alternative splicing (AS), whereby gene products are assembled into proteins, which are the building blocks of life. During AS, gene fragments -- called exons -- are shuffled to make different protein shapes. It's like LEGO, where some fragments can be missing from the final protein shape.AS enables cells to make more than one protein from a single gene, so that the total number of different proteins in a cell greatly surpasses the number of available genes. A cell's ability to regulate protein diversity at any given time reflects its ability to take on different roles in the body. Blencowe's previous work showed that AS prevalence increases with vertebrate complexity. So although the genes that make bodies of vertebrates might be similar, the proteins they give rise to are far more diverse in animals such as mammals, than in birds and frogs.
So...it turns out the answer to why we're smarter than chickens is not because we don't pass hraka where we silflay.
An alternative splicing event amplifies evolutionary differences between vertebrates [abstract]
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday August 24 2015, @06:11PM
Think how awkward it would have been if the roles was reversed. Chickens as smart as us and us like them. I'll think about that next time I have a nugget.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday August 24 2015, @06:19PM
Break the cycle!
http://beyondmeat.com/products#category-group [beyondmeat.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday August 24 2015, @06:32PM
When I can roast a whole faux chicken the way I can with a real one, then I'll be happy with these things.
Someday, maybe that will happen. But imitation chicken products just don't really compare right now.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday August 24 2015, @06:37PM
I've heard fake meat products have advanced, such as the link I posted, but I'm content to wait for decades of early adopters before I care to sort them out. Meat substitutes on the other hand, like tofu or tempeh, have their place.
Once lab grown meat lands we can have our chicken kill-free and try out legalized cannibalization human meat too.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday August 24 2015, @06:52PM
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday August 24 2015, @07:01PM
Well, I wouldn't say that. I'd say I'm not personally satisfied with the technology, and therefor will continue my less morally ideal behaviors.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 25 2015, @02:30AM
(Score: 1) by redneckmother on Monday August 24 2015, @06:24PM
s/have a nugget/leave a nugget/
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 2) by VortexCortex on Tuesday August 25 2015, @08:43AM
Think how awkward it would have been if the roles was reversed. Chickens as smart as us and us like them. I'll think about that next time I have a nugget.
It was horrible. Thankfully we isolated the singular genetic event and made the jump here via the Many Worlds QM drive. You wouldn't think it so funny if you had witnessed the abomination of a 6ft nude Chicken-Erectus frying your loved ones with batter made from the unborn. Think about that next time you have a "nugget".