OT: Humans and Urchins?

[Rougiem]

I am going over genetics with my students and came across this story in the latest NSTA magazine....We have more in common with our tanks than we think

Humans Share Genes With Sea Urchins
2006-11-17 - NSTA News

After identifying 23,300 genes made from 814 million letters of DNA code taken from Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, the California purple urchin, an international team of scientists has found that humans share 7,077 genes with urchins. This makes the spiny, spineless creature a closer genetic cousin to man than the fruit fly or worm, more widely studied model organisms. Results from the sequencing project can be found in the journal Science.

Here is the rest of the article:

http://www.nsta.org/main/news/stories/science_story.php?news_story_ID=52923

Cheers!

 

[boozeman]

cool

 

[Dentoid]

Who knew? The more and more we learn about genetics the closer and closer we become with nature. Now if we can only get the politicians to evolve with the rest of us! Oh-I am bad! Watson and Crick are turning in their graves. Great information!

 

[sasquatch]

Rougeim?? does that mean its bad to eat uni?

 

[Dentoid]

Would that make us 30% cannibal!

 

[Rougiem]

:LOL: No you guys are not cannibals! You only share the genes...You pretend to be an urchin if you want...

Humans have about 31,000 genes so we share about 23% in common!

Cheers!

 

[boozeman]

things have changed...when I studied genetics in high school it was about traits in pea plants...then in college it was in fruit flies (still remember my mom screaming about the vials of fruit flies in the fridge)...now with the advances in gene sequencing and the mapping of entire genomes I suddenly feel very old...and very naive :invisible

 

[sasquatch]

WOW! thats why I like mohawk haircuts

 

[boozeman]

 

[reefjitsu]

Rougiem,

There are lots of cool lab excercises and experiments you can do with urchins. Many are suitable for your classroom, you should look into it. You get to do your own urchin breeding too, just inject them with some chemical and they expelle their eggs and sperm. Then you get to play Mother Nature.

 

[Rougiem]

Great idea Reef...If you have any links to this info...please PM me or post it here...That does give me an idea!

 

[Rougiem]

Here is a bit more and the link where the research was done...

A close genetic cousin
Human beings and Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, the California purple urchin, share more than 7,000 genes – including genes associated with many human diseases, such as muscular dystrophy and Huntington’s disease. Sea urchins are useful for the study of fertilization and early development in humans.

http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-052.html

Cheers!

 

[Rougiem]

things have changed...when I studied genetics in high school it was about traits in pea plants...then in college it was in fruit flies (still remember my mom screaming about the vials of fruit flies in the fridge)...now with the advances in gene sequencing and the mapping of entire genomes I suddenly feel very old...and very naive :invisible

We still use those examples Booze...Going over it with my students right now. Peas are still a great ground work example of genetics...

 

[sasquatch]

We never had genitcs when I was in school, we learned it on the street corner

 

[Rougiem]

 

[reefjitsu]

It has been a few years since I worked with urchin embryos, so no links. I will see what I can dig up for you tonight or tommorow.

 

[reefjitsu]

I forgot, look up sea urchin bioassay, you should find some good stuff.
Here is one link I found already:
http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/bi/1998/sea_urchins/