The article “Scientists Solve Puzzle Of Black Death’s DNA” by Nicholas Wade is very interesting. It discusses how scientists have now reconstructed the full DNA of the microbe that killed almost half of Western Europe in the 14th century. Scientists were able to reconstruct the DNA by using the teeth of four skeletons who had suffered from the plague in 14th century London. The bacterium that causes plague, known as Yersinia pestis, is still very prevalent today, and the discovery of this DNA sequence put all doubts to rest that it wasn’t the same bacterium that caused the Black Death so many years ago. The ancient genome that was recovered is almost exactly the same as the genome that lives today, only 97 out of 4.6 million DNA units are different, and only a dozen of these occur in genes that would affect the organisms physical properties. What this means is that the bacterium that terrorized Europe 600 or so years ago is almost the exact same as the one that still lives today. The article then discusses how the main reason that this same bacterium isn’t as devastating today is that today sanitation and health conditions are simply better. The main reason that the Black Death was so devastating was because of the lack of good health procedures as well as the lack of modern day antibiotics, which are also very helpful at fighting the plague. However, another more eerie reason that the bacterium may not be as proficient at killing nowadays is pure chance. The plague bacterium rearranges the order of its genes very often, and this rearrangement can sometimes change the devastating abilities of the bacterium. So, another reason why the plague may not be as dangerous today can very well just be that we’re lucky that the bacterium hasn’t rearranged itself in a certain way like it did 660 years ago.
The discoveries discussed in this article can have far reaching impacts on society. Because we now know the exact sequence of the ancient bacterium, we will be able to develop stronger and more efficient antibiotics against the modern day plague and other diseases that have similar DNA patterns. This discovery will also help scientists to identify the sources of other historical disease outbreaks. For example, scientists have always argued over the cause of the Justinian plague, but now they have more reason to believe that it was caused by the same bacterium that caused the Black Death, Yersinia pestis. Aside from these two impacts, this discovery will most likely have countless other impacts unforeseen at this point in time.
This article did a very good job at summarizing what happened and the impacts it has. It gave a detailed enough explanation of the science behind all of the discoveries so as to allow readers to have a good understanding, but didn’t go so in depth that people couldn’t understand. The article also quoted many scientists and experts, which gave it much more credibility. One thing that the article could have done better was explained whether or not this discovery also applies to the plague that ruined Asia earlier in history. However, aside from this, this was a great article that gave readers a great understanding of how scientists came about this discovery and what it means.
Thomas' review of this article about the Black Death was well done. He mentioned several statistics, all of which he connected back to the points made in the article. The review was organized and easy to follow. Also, Thomas mentioned the example of the Justinian plague and how its genetic sequences were connected to the Black Death, which strengthened his review.
ReplyDeleteThomas did not go into detail about the plague which affected Asia earlier in history. He could have clarified on this – I thought that maybe he meant the Black Death the article was based on, but I wasn't quite sure. Also, he mentioned little about the affect of today's version of the Black Death bacterium.
This was an interesting review and I hope to see more about the discovery of genome sequences of ancient diseases in the future. More of these types of studies would be beneficial in the making of antibiotics and would help many people suffering from incurable diseases.
Dan chose a very interesting article about the reconstruction of the genome belonging to the Black Plague. He did a great job introducing the topic in the first sentence, summarizing what it was about and giving credit to the scientists who did the research. He presented the reasons why the building of this genome was so beneficial very well, making it clear to the reader that this was an important foundation for understanding future strains of other bacteria. At the end of Dan’s review he did a great job thoroughly criticizing the writers article as well as what he felt was the interesting fact, which was that this was the first complete reconstruction of any ancient pathogen.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that in order to improve his review, Dan would fix some grammatical errors, such as the run on sentence beginning with “The first step…” in paragraph one. I would also suggest that he go a little more in depth about how they determined the fragment of DNA extracted from the skeleton to be a variant of the Black Death bacterium.
I enjoyed reading his review and loved learning about how the genomic data gotten from the Black Death DNA fragment showed that all modern plagues are descendants from it. It is a great example of evolution.
Thomas chose a very fascinating article topic and I was immediately interested. He does a very good job of giving examples, but then explaining exactly what they mean. For example, when Thomas mentioned that only “97 of the 4.6 million DNA unites are different,” he explained to the reader that that meant the bacterium is, “almost the exact same as the one that still lives today.” Further, throughout the review Thomas addresses and answers a very popular question, “What if the Black Death” was around today?” This question would certainly be a question on any readers mind. Also, I enjoyed the point that Thomas brings up about the question of whether or not this plague could have been linked to one from earlier Asian history. Not only is this a very interesting point, but also demonstrates Thomas’ well-rounded thinking and knowledge of world-history.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Thomas’ thought on the Asian Plague is strong, he could have specified. This would even further increase the appeal of his review. To further improve his review, Thomas could have mentioned whether or not this was a complete breakthrough. Had scientists hypothesized this discovery? Or has this investigation been going on for some time?
I was completely fascinated by the concept of this deathly bacteria still present in the world today- over 600 years later. It is a great example of human evolution and I will be watching to see what else this discovery will mean!
Thomas’ review of the article “Scientists Solve Puzzle of Black Death’s DNA,” was very interesting and well written. Moreover, Thomas provided many interesting facts as to the origin of the virus, and how scientists were able to reconstruct a disease that is so old. Also, Thomas’ reasons about why the Black Death was so harmful and thrived around Europe, terrorizing so many people were very interesting. Thomas chose a very interesting topic, as perhaps the most deadly disease in human history is extremely captivating and interesting to read about. Thomas also didn’t go into too many specifics, keeping the article easy to understand without going too in depth. Also, the fact that conditions in society have improved so much essentially has rendered the disease harmless is also impressive. But, one can’t help but fear what would happen if the disease made a comeback.
ReplyDeleteTwo things I would like to know more about is how long it took them to recreate and rediscover the strand of bacteria that caused the black death. It would also be intriguing to find out whether or not scientists think that plague could ever make a comeback and wreak the same amount of havoc that it did in Europe in the 14th century. Or, whether a disease with the same horridness as the black death could occur. Finally, I would like to find out how prepared we are as a society to fend off a disease as deleterious and harmful as the Black death.
One thing I found to be extremely interesting is that the bacterium that
terrorized Europe 600 or so years ago is almost the exact same as the one that still lives today. I would have figured that it would have died off, or mutated to a form not very similar to that of the harmful bacteria. But this has to cause some concern that the bacteria may make a return and our society is in my opinion, extremely unprepared to deal with another sickness on the scale of the black death.
Thomas’s review of “Scientists Solve Puzzle of Black Death’s DNA” was very informative, and was on a topic that is interesting due to both its biological and historical significance. One aspect of the review that was very well presented was that it states how long ago the Black Death occurred, but how the same bacteria exists today. This makes it apparent how even slight changes in genetic code can make bacteria that were devastating over 600 years ago nearly harmless today. Another well presented aspect of the review was its coverage of why the Plague is no longer dangerous to humans. While modern health precautions are a factor, another large factor is also pure chance. It just so happens that the plague bacterium rearranges its DNA randomly, and this random rearrangement is what reduced it from its previous deadly capabilities to a now harmless bacterium. A final well presented aspect of the review was how it covered the impacts of this discovery. It will help create better treatments against the plague and similar diseases, and it will help both historians and scientists better understand other past plagues. The review could have been improved if it were able to elucidate on why so few changes in genetic code make the bacteria so much less dangerous, as it is otherwise not clear. Also, why discovering the Black Death’s genetic code would help scholars understand the origin of other epidemics was never made clear. Is it that many epidemics were thought to stem from variations of this same bacteria or because many disease-creating bacteria have similar genetic code? The answer, from the review, is unclear. However, the review was still very informative. The piece of information that impressed me the most from this article was that there were only 97 genetic variations out of a possible 4.6 million. It not only impressed me that so few changes could result in such drastic effects, but that modern science is able to pick up on so few differences.
ReplyDeleteComment posted for S. White