Indian Australian scientist edges closer to cure for genetic diseases
January 21st, 2009 - 11:39 am ICT by IANSSydney, Jan 21 (IANS) Scientists are edging closer to a potential cure for debilitating genetic diseases like Huntington’s disease, Friedreich’s ataxia and Fragile X syndrome, thanks to a recent breakthrough led by an Indian Australian. The finding is the outcome of collaboration between a team led by Sureshkumar Balasubramanian of Queensland University School of Biological Sciences and Detlef Weigel at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Germany.
Balasubramanian studies how different environmental conditions modulate developmental processes in plants. Specifically he aims to understand how plants respond to changes in temperature at a molecular mechanistic level.
The study identifies an expansion of a repeat pattern in the DNA of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana that has striking parallels to the DNA repeat patterns observed in humans suffering from neuronal disorders such as Huntington’s disease and Fredereich’s ataxia.
“It opens up a whole new array of possibilities for future research, some of which could have potential implications for humans,” Balasubramanian said.
The types of diseases the research relates to, which are caused by “triplet repeat expansions” in DNA, become more severe through the generations but were difficult to study in humans due to the long timeframes involved, said a university release.
A plant model with a relatively short lifespan would allow scientists to study DNA mutations over several generations, Balasubramanian said.
The study was published in the January edition of Science.
- Scientists catch evolution in the act - Jan 01, 2010
- Hidden DNA code more influential than our genes - Sep 19, 2011
- Similar gene controls plant, human clocks - Dec 02, 2010
- Upsetting bio-clocks causes brain degeneration, early death - Jan 11, 2012
- Strawberries show promise against Huntington's disease - Nov 16, 2010
- Male, female parts in plants 'talk in the same way as cells do in your brain' - Mar 18, 2011
- Plant found with built-in drought alarm - Jan 13, 2012
- How misfolded protein spreads from cell to cell, potentially spreading disease - Feb 19, 2011
- Potential new approaches for tackling Huntington's disease uncovered - Jan 11, 2011
- 'Glowing' plant cells that could control cell growth, death - Nov 01, 2010
- Gene discovery to pave way for new soybean plants - Apr 28, 2010
- How tobacco plants could sniff out potential terrorists - Feb 03, 2011
- Molecular biologists discover formula for longer plant life - Sep 24, 2008
- Do plants pay a price for evolving with complex defense mechanisms? - Jan 29, 2011
- Scientists discover signaling pathway which ensures that plants remember to flower - Aug 21, 2009
Tags: australian scientist, balasubramanian, developmental biology, developmental processes, dna mutations, fragile x, fragile x syndrome, friedreich s ataxia, future research, genetic diseases, max planck, max planck institute, mechanistic level, plant arabidopsis thaliana, plant model, queensland university, repeat pattern, striking parallels, timeframes, weigel
