Mutation in Smell Gene Found to Be Associated with Asthma

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE HINDU DELHI SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2019 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 15 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SNAPSHOTS Mutation in smell gene found to Carbon dots help detect herbicide pollution be associated with asthma Aswathi Pacha In an extraordinary wasteto wealth feat, researchers from As Studying a multigenerational Indian family led to the discovery of associated gene variant sam have used the commonly Iron snow found invasive plant water hya R. Prasad The Earth’s inner core is says. “In populationbased studies cinth to produce carbon nano capped by snow made of that have been undertaken, it be particles. These extremely tiny tiny particles of iron, much Based on a study of a fourgenera comes difficult to identify such (less than 10 nanometre) parti heavier than the snowflakes tion family in Mysuru with high variants.” cles can be used for detecting a seen in the atmosphere, a prevalence of asthma, a multiin “There are three main reasons commonly used herbicide — pre Waste to wealth: Water hyacinth study published in the stitutional study by Indian re why we could identify the gene tilachlor. The nanoparticles were was used to produce carbon journal JGR Solid Earth searchers has shown that a variant variant — asthmatics in the family found to be selective and sensi nanoparticles. * M. KARUNAKARAN finds. The ironsnow falls of an olfactory gene (OR2AG2) is a had difficulty in smelling, we saw tive for the detection of the from the molten outer core novel candidate for asthma. This is the same variant in the cohort and herbicide. nash Jyoti Deka. and piles up in the inner the first time in India a fourgener we were looking for a novel genet “At the biodiversity hub of our The herbicide pretilachlor is core of the Earth creating ation large family with high asth ic variant,” Dr. Agrawal says. institute we have been trying to mixed with water and carbon stacks that are up to 320 ma prevalence has been studied figure out how to convert this dots, and studied using special km thick. for the said purpose. Suppressing expression weed into a valueadded pro equipment. The fluorescence in The gene was validated in a But during the validation studies, duct. Here in Assam, every water tensity increases in the presence north Indian cohort of 141 children asthmatic children with or without body is infested with water hya of the herbicide. The team also with asthma and 130 controls. the variant did not show signifi cinth, and it was an easy and tested using different pesticides About 80% of children with asth cant difference in the ability to cheap option to explore. Some and other compounds having si ma carried a copy of the gene smell, which was unexpected. teams are exploring if its fibre milar chemical structure and variant. “Asthmatic children without the can be used to make furniture. found that the carbon dot was ex Twenty individuals represent variant too had impaired smell We are also working on making tremely sensitive to pretilachlor ing the four generations were se threshold, which made us wonder activated carbon using the plant and could detect even very small lected. Of the 20 persons studied, if asthmarelated pathway itself and these carbon dots were one quantity of the herbicide. After Quick to see 14 had asthma and the rest served can cause suppression of the gene of the innovations born in our successful testing in the laborato The peregrine falcon, one of as a control group. Whole genome independent of the genetic varia lab,” explains Devasish Chowd ry conditions, the team collected the world’s most common genotyping was undertaken on all Inherited: All 14 family members with asthma had one copy of the gene tion,” he says. hury from the Material Nanoche soil samples from different places predatory birds, has the the 20 participants and exome se variant * P.V. SIVAKUMAR To validate the hypothesis, the mistry lab at the Institute of Ad across the State and proved the fastest vision in the animal quencing was carried out on five researchers directly measured the vanced Study in Science and efficiency of the carbon dots in kingdom and can register people with asthma and three con risk because of inability to mount trations,” he says. “This suggested gene expression in lung samples of Technology, Assam. He is the cor detecting pretilachor in soil sam nearly 130 frames per second, trols. While whole genome geno an appropriate counter response. a defect in their ability to smell. Al those with asthma and normal responding author of the work ples. according to a study published typing helps in detecting varia The inability to mount a counter so, family members with asthma subjects. In people with asthma, published in Heliyon. in the Journal of Experimental tions across the genome, the response could lead to lung dam said they could not smell burning there was significant reduction in Fluorescence enhancement Biology. In comparison, exome sequencing allows varia age,” says Dr. Agrawal. The inabili odour.” the expression of the gene. Leaves to carbon The paper also describes the me humans see up to a maximum tions in the proteincoding region ty to smell could be a potential me “Whether olfactory gene was They also carried out cell cul The team harvested water hya chanism by which electron of 50 to 60 blinks per second. of any gene to be identified. chanism for lung damage. associated with asthma or not was ture studies. When the cultured cinth leaves, removed the chloro transfer happens between the This is the first time scientists Several variants were seen after not known till now. Ours is the first human cells were treated with IL13 have studied the speed of phyll, dried and powdered it. dot and the herbicide which ena genotyping and exome sequenc Identifying odour study to find such an association,” cytokine, which is associated with vision among birds of prey, The sieved powder underwent bles the fluorescence enhance ing. The team led by Anurag Agra To test this, the researchers eval says Dr. Samarpana Chakraborty allergy, there was suppression of calculating how fast they see. several treatments including ment. Dr. Chowdhury adds that wal, Director of the Institute of Ge uated the ability of the 20 partici from CSIRIGIB and the first auth OR2AG2 gene expression. heating at 150 degree Celsius to this will be a commercially viable nomics and Integrative Biology pants to smell a sweet odour and or of a paper published in the jour “So there is either a genetic de convert it to carbon dots. “When option when compared with the (CSIRIGIB), Delhi, turned to com the concentration at which they nal Scientific Reports. “The gene fect in the OR2AG2 gene at birth a nanoparticle is less than 10 na sensors currently available in the puter modelling to narrow down could identify the odour. All 14 fa variant may cause olfactory dys leading to suppressed expression nometre we call it a dot or nano market, as the raw material for the possible variants that might be mily members with asthma had function in the family members or there is acquired suppression of dot. Our carbon dots were able to the construction of the sensor — responsible for asthma and finally one copy of the gene variant. who have asthma.” gene expression later in life due to give a green fluorescence under the water hyacinth — is readily confirmed the genetic variant “Healthy individuals and those “By studying the fourgenera inflammation or environmental UV light. The extremely small ox available and is practically a through conventional sequencing. with asthma were able to identify tion family alone or the children factors,” he says. “This supports ygen functional groups on the waste material. Based on this stu “Mutation in the sensory path and differentiate different smells, cohort individually, we couldn’t our hypothesis that the gene may surface of the dot are responsible dy, the group is now developing a way such as olfaction is a plausible but those with asthma could de have identified the gene. We need be a convergence point for asthma for the fluorescence,” explains paper strip–based sensor for on Early immunity mechanism for increased asthma tect smells only at higher concen ed both groups,” Dr. Chakraborty pathways at the lung level.” the first author of the paper Ma site detection of pretilachlor. Researchers have discovered how a brief disruption in the guts of preborn mice can compromise their adult immunity to rotavirus IIT Hyderabad team uses plant extract, heat to kill cancer cells infection. The study, published in Science Immunology showed that this prevented a robust antibody response in adult The nanoparticles, which encapsulate the extract, had no adverse effect on mice, indicating their biocompatibility mice to rotavirus. This early disruption limits the ability of R. Prasad tive oxygen species, which

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