Jordan Hoang
Mr. Ippolito
AP Biology C Even
2/4/19
Yin, Steph. “Seeking Superpowers in the Axolotl Genome.” The New York Times, The New York
Times, 29 Jan. 2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/science/axolotl-dna-genome-sequence.html.
The creature axolotl- which resides in only a few select lakes in Mexico- is quite an fascinating organism. It is also commonly known as the “Mexican walking fish”, resembling a tadpole even after complete development. Unfortunately, due to their small habitat being invaded by invasive species of fish, axolotls are facing an “uncertain future”. However, scientists have taken this opportunity to study axolotls and their one extremely unique characteristic- the ability to regenerate their body parts. Examining the DNA of these intriguing organisms, scientists were able to find that axolotls have a genome that is almost 10 times the size of humans by “mapping over “100,000 pieces of DNA into chromosomes”. This allows them to rebuild their libs, heads, and even parts of their brain. By also comparing axolotls to their closely related tiger salamander cousins, they found what specific DNA allowed for these “walking fish” to regenerate their body parts so efficiently. From this, they infer what DNA allowed for certain genomes to be turned on or off. In the future, scientists hope to use the study of axolotls to figure out how DNA affects other creatures genomes as well, and hopefully one day apply their outstanding regenerative ability to humans as well.
There are so many different types of research are being done on creatures that are not just growing our understanding of animals, but humans as well. By studying creatures such as axolotls, we could eventually find properties from them that could benefit humans. Although this wasn’t necessarily elaborated on in the article, researching their regenerative abilities could eventually lead us to discovering methods to increase immunity to diseases or injury. Additionally, it could possibly heighten human longevity. It is also amazing and eye-opening to discover the complex characteristics and genotypes of other organisms. This shows that we are not the only creatures that feature a complex genetic makeup, and that future research on their genotype could eventually become applicable to us in the near future.
As for the article itself, I appreciated how the author organized her words and how she incorporated a more informal style of writing that made the article more interesting. In addition, I like how she gave an informative introduction of the axolotl and what makes this creature really unique. Unfortunately however, she failed to elaborate and explain more on the scientific studies being done on this animal and what they are actually doing to apply their studies to humans. Despite this faults, it was very interesting to learn about the amazing healing properties and complex genotype of this ornamented animal.
Jordan Hoang’s review of “Seeking Superpowers in the Axolotl Genome” by Steph Yin was very well written. For example, she writes a concise and well-ordered summary, usually dedicating one sentence to each new aspect of the experiment described in the article, and the topics were ordered in exactly the manner in which Yin wrote the article. A summary should be written in this manner because it gives a specific idea about how the article is written and what topics are covered without spoiling too much of the article for the reader (ie stating that axolotls and tiger salamanders were compared but not writing as much as Yin did on how exactly that was done by crossing the organisms). Another very strong aspect of Hoang’s review was that she explicitly stated a societal impact that was not directly included in the article: because Yin only included that, “Their work paves the way for advances in human regenerative medicine,” any specific way in which the axolotl research brings about advances in regenerative medicine is fair game to write about in the “impact” paragraph, and she states three: increasing human lifespan, immunity to diseases, and decreases in injury. Stating impacts not necessarily found in the article gives the reader more of an incentive to read the full article, as it adds more importance. Thirdly, Hoang gives a specific and valid weakness of the article: besides the Professor Whited quote stating a question that could be asked about humans and the allusion to “rendering humans more like axolotls,” Yin provides no other description on how the regenerative properties of the amphibian can be applied to people. Additionally, falling under the “not enough on the scientific studies” point Hoang made, I especially agree with this because the author provided no explanation for how the researchers could infer which genes belonged to axolotls rather than tiger salamanders by observing patterns of inheritance. What about the patterns made this possible.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this was a very well-written review, there was some slight room for improvement in a couple areas. One was that in Hoang’s summary, she made some inferences about what the researchers were able to achieve that were not explicitly stated in the article: for example, Hoang stated that, “By also comparing axolotls to their closely related tiger salamander cousins, they found what specific DNA allowed for these “walking fish” to regenerate their body parts so efficiently,” although the article only said that this allowed researchers to find DNA specific to axolotls, not necessarily the regeneration DNA. Also, the researchers themselves did not necessarily infer what DNA is regulatory DNA; the article merely stated that this is the logical next line of thinking. It is important to not infer things that weren’t actually in the article so the reader does not have too high expectations. Additionally, Hoang could elaborate on the “impact” paragraph about how studying limb regeneration could affect disease immunity in humans, as laymen would not obviously link these two things and would want an explanation.
My biggest learning experience after reading this article is that genetic linkage studies that map the article based on how often two genes are inherited together are still used today when I thought that with modern sequencing technologies that kind of study would be a relic of the past. I chose this revelation because this was something I thought about in the past, especially when I read about the original studies of Morgan and his students that established this method and juxtaposed that to the complex sequencing technologies I learned about in the molecular medicine class I took over the summer. This changes my understanding of the topic of genetics and even science as a whole because I realize that there are still applications to learning about the history of a topic and the logic behind older methods of analysis even when it seems like modern methods are full-proof replacements.
Layla Brinster
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
2/12/18
Current Event #16 Comment
Yin, Steph. “Seeking Superpowers in the Axolotl Genome.” The New York Times, The New York
Times, 29 Jan. 2019,
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/science/axolotl-dna-genome-sequence.html
After reading Jordan’s review on Steph Yin’s ‘Seeking Superpowers in the Axolotl Genome’, I think that Jordan did a nice job of incorporating quotes from the article, making a real-world connection, and addressing an area of improvement for Yin. Jordan included quotes and statistics from the article, making sure to give a detailed description of each one. Her summary flowed very well and was not choppy, which sometimes can be a byproduct of quotes. Furthermore, when Jordan was addressing the importance of the genetic discoveries, one phrase that resonated with me was “we are not the only creatures that feature a complex genetic makeup, and that future research on their genotype could eventually become applicable to us…” This is an essential concept for us, as humans, to understand; there is complex and diverse life all around us that impact us in ways sometimes unimaginable. Lastly, I believe Jordan is correct in saying that Yin could have further elaborated on the ways in which the study could be applicable to humans.
In terms of improvements, Jordan could have related this article to our in-class learning. We have learned a lot about these types of genetic methods on a molecular and DNA level. I think that connection was necessary to make and it provides a way to relate to the audience, us students. Another way Jordan could have improved her review was by incorporating the gene mutation into her summary. The scientists found a gene mutation that caused a previously studied heart defect in the axolotl genome which proved that their process for scanning the genome is very effective and efficient.
This article is significant because it demonstrates what we are learning about in class on a real-world scale. I chose this article to comment on because I am interested in genetic mapping and sequencing, I think the entire process is eye-opening and unbelievable. We studied gene mapping, regeneration, and DNA sequencing, now we are reading an article about the application of said techniques. I find it very interesting how all of these aspects of science are able to come together and work with each other for a greater purpose.