"
Team:UST Beijing
From 2014.igem.org
Learn from ancestors.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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. However，we also lost some advantages in the process. Unfortunately, the capability to produce vitamin C is one of the traits we lost in history.
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
Since the significance effect of vitamin C in scavenging free radical and collagen synthesis, people with long-time insufficient ingestion of vitamin C, sailors for instance, could suffer from scurvy disease. Moreover, Vit C’s pivotal role in eliminating free radical can never be emphasized too much, as 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.
