The Genetic Dynamics Of Inbreeding Depression
It has been known throughout the scientific community for more than a century that breeding between a closely related plants and animals renders higher levels in reproductive failure. The biological process behind this occurrence is not fully understood, and a topic of debate.
A recent study, Led by Professor Ken Paige of The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, aimed to see which genes were more or less active in inbred species lines, and also the function of these genes. The researchers mated identical fruit flies to one another to determine how much genetic similarity reduced reproductive success. The experiment was repeated with six different lines of flies, all of which were of identical makeup except for variation in chromosome three. This enabled the researchers to view the interactions chromosome three had with gene expression in the other chromosomes.
Activity levels of genes were expressed by oligonucleotide microarrays, which measure these activity levels simultaneously in a way that the researchers can interpret the visualisation. It was found that there were a few key genes that interacted with other genes, distorting and changing the expression. Further study was conducted on these genes and the findings from this included that of these genes, those associated with metabolic processes and fighting pathogens were more active, whereas the genes that code for cell protection proteins were down-regulated. Energy is distributed towards metabolic processors and swayed away from reproduction and other cellular function.
Student #: 42066127
Original Journal Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142192.php
