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Team:UST Beijing
From 2014.igem.org
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<h1>Learn from ancestors.</h1> | <h1>Learn from ancestors.</h1> | ||
| - | <p class="lead">An undesired mutation deprived our beloved | + | <p class="lead">An undesired mutation deprived one of our beloved magics - providing vitamin C for ourselves. Fortunately, we might be able to pick it up from our ancestors.</p> |
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Revision as of 15:42, 11 October 2014
Learn from ancestors.
An undesired mutation deprived one of our beloved magics - providing vitamin C for ourselves. Fortunately, we might be able to pick it up from our ancestors.
Through evolution, we lost something.
Looking back at the footsteps of evolution, we human being exploit our limits and potentials to adapt mercurial environment and harsh conditions. We have, however, lost some magical potentials in this process. The capability to generate vitamin C for ourselves is one of the lost magics.
Ancestors
Mutations in L-gulono-gama-lactone oxidase(GLO) gene in many vertebrate species caused the lack of expression of GLO, which leads to a loss of capability to produce vitamin C. As a result of this mutation, many species including human being developed their dependence on food source vitamin C.
We Human
Vitamin C has been playing a pivotal role in scavenging free radical and collagen synthesis. People with long-time insufficient ingestion of vitamin C, sailors for instance, could suffer from scurvy disease. To make it worse, accumulation of free radical could be an important factor of aging.
Solutions?
The truth is, we lost the magic to provide an indispensable vitamin to ourselves. And that's what we are working around: is there a way to reactivate GLO gene and express functional GLO, hence pick up our long-lost magic? We've conducted some cell-level experiment and evaluated its possible effect.
The answer is fusion.
Lemur catta，also called Lemur, is a kind of monkey and one of the two species of anthropoids with full and functional GLO gene. Lemur could be a good source of GLO gene if intend to regain our capability of producing Vit C, just like our ancestors. However, there's still a long way to go.
