George McCormick
Current event
Cell Press. "Clues from a Somalian cavefish about modern mammals' dark past." ScienceDaily.
ScienceDaily, 11 October 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181011112444.htm>.
In the article Clues from a Somalian Cavefish about Modern Mammals' Dark Past, Cell Press writes about the unique Phreatichthys andruzzii. With roughly 3 million years of living in pitch black, this species of blind cavefish has lost an archaic system of DNA rehabilitation. This DNA repair system is found in most organisms including bacteria, fungi, plants, and most animals. This process harnesses the energy from visible light to repair ultraviolet damage to the DNA. This is important because only placental mammals were previously thought to lack this system. The article highlights the evolution of animals in extreme environments and focuses on how and why their DNA changed throughout time. We are given insight into what our evolutionary ancestors were like during the time of the dinosaurs and why they evolved.
Although this article does not have a lot of influence or a large impact on society, its value and relevance falls on the impact of the discovery and what information it gave scientists. The discovery does not impact society itself, but our understanding of our beginning as a species. Due to the fact that this Somalian species of fish has not seen light for 3 million years, it lost the highly conserved gene that allows for photoreactivation. All non placental animals and mammals use this DNA repair system, making it quite peculiar as to why just this fish is special. Even other blind cave fish still have this gene, or an improved version, posing the question why did this fish lose its ability to use its photoreactivation mechanisms? “The researchers found that Phreatichthys andruzzii carries mutations that disrupt the function of essential DNA repair genes. It also lacks a regulatory enhancer element, which coordinates and enhances DNA repair in response to sunlight in other species by turning other genes ‘on.’” The interesting thing is this lack of ability shows a more extreme level of adaptation, making it even more unique. This high level of adaptation points to the idea that modern mammals ancestors once lived and evolved in darkness. This discovery may not be all that important to society, but its roots in our origins is undeniable. This research and information about genes, specifically DNA repair genes, may eventually lead to medical implications and gene therapy.
Overall I thought this article about Somalian cavefish was very informational, written well, and had many strengths. Informationally, this article was on point, melding many facts together about genes, DNA, evolution, the specific species of fish, and time all into one conglomerate. The author made the high level of information in this article clear and easy to understand, even for someone with little background knowledge about genetics or cave fish. One weakness the author had was that there were not many implications or connections to society, this could change as soon as an advancement is made. As for now though, this information can only aid in further research and hypothesis. If I were the author I would have tried to relate this research to something applicable to humans, but the real challenge is how this information is used. Some of the theories surrounding evolution and our ancestors should be further developed and elaborated on. To sum it up, I thought this article was very informational and delivered it well, even connecting it to other science/history topics.
Today, I read the article "Clues from a Somalian cavefish about modern mammals' dark past." by George McCormick. In this article, he talks about how scientists have discovered the DNA repair system in mammals that were thought to not have any. I liked how he explained the impact it could have on our society.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like how he never explained what the DNA repair system is, or how it worked. He also didn't explain what a Phreatichthys andruzzii is. I still don't know if it is an animal or an object. If he rewrites this article, I hope he explains these things.
I learned how the DNA repair system, now found in mammals can impact our society.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181011112444.htm
ReplyDeleteCell Press. "Clues from a Somalian cavefish about modern mammals' dark past." ScienceDaily.
George Mccormick was able to explain the purpose of the article really well and allowed me to gain a good understanding of what was happening in the article before I read it. I chose this because it is important to include, otherwise your review will confuse people that may not know what is happening because they may have not read the article. He is very good at pointing out the importance and relevance of this article. An example of this would be “The article highlights the evolution of animals in extreme environments and focuses on how and why their DNA changed throughout time. We are given insight into what our evolutionary ancestors were like during the time of the dinosaurs and why they evolved.” I chose this because it is important to strongly state how important something is because without having the importance the article is weak and the review and article have no purpose. George also uses great words to describe what she is using. This is important because it strengthens the review and makes it more credible.
George could also add more quotes from the article or referencing the article more because without this the review can seem less credible. This can be corrected by adding more quotes from the article that relate to something in the review. In his review he mentions DNA a lot, however he never says what DNA means, this can take away from the interest by viewers because someone who may not know what DNA is may get confused. This can be changed by, in parenthesis, putting deoxyribose next to the first DNA that is mentioned
I found it amazing that this dramatic change in DNA in this animal has happened and how revolutionary it could be. I chose this because it is fascinating that an organism loses a critical piece of DNA that is in most organisms. This changes the way I see evolution because even though this could be the end of this species if something was to happen to their environment. This makes me see evolution as something that could save a species or kill off a species.
Will Grant
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181011112444.htm
Cell Press. "Clues from a Somalian cavefish about modern mammals' dark past." ScienceDaily.
While going through the reviews on the blog site, I was very intrigued by George McCormick’s review. George read "Clues from a Somalian cavefish about modern mammals' dark past," by Cell Press and wrote about it. The first thing George did well was he showed interest in his review. It did not feel forced as he was writing it and we know that he choose this article for a specific reason. The second thing that I liked that he did was how he explained to us how odd the situation was. If explains how uncommon it is for an animal to lose its DNA Rehabilitation system. The final thing that I thought he did well was his explanation of how it is useful to scientists in general. He takes this confusing article and makes it more accessible to us as the readers to why scientist think this is such an important discovery.
The first thing that I thought could be improved was his start. He drops a lot of complicated sentences and words in the beginning and does not explain what they mean. Knowing that the article had “Somalian cavefish” I could infer that Phreatichthys Andruzzii was the fish, but it is still important to explain this as it is the subject of the article. The second thing George could improve was his take on the weakness of the article. He says that the author did not connect their article to something we could grasp, and then later saying that the author connected it to history and science. Detering what the author could have connected it too would have helped his argument.
The one thing that baffled me is the fact that an animal over time, could just lose a such an important part of the body, just from living deep in the ocean. This helps prove evolution and show how mutations can be very different across different animals.