Virtually everybody you know has the wily virus called CMV. Global rates of infection run from 60 to 90 percent, 100 percent in places with concentrated populations like New Delhi or Hong Kong. And at a typical daycare center, most children have it or soon will, since a bit of saliva or urine will carry it along. For most of us, our immune system keeps it in check. But it can be life threatening to those whose immunity has been compromised.
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It’s ancient knowledge that a spoonful of turmeric can soothe inflammation, but now a UA scientist is exploring how the complex structure of natural plants long used in Asia can offer medicinal benefits in other ways, many of them unnoticed in the West.
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Up close, a thin slice of a human cell wall might look like the Great Wall of China, with an array of towers, tubes and molecular mailboxes. Getting a message through is tricky. The molecule must hit the right receptor, a kind of smart mailbox that regulates life, screening messages, letting only a few bind to the cell.
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Green petunia plants sprout in Rich Jorgensen’s lab in the Plant Sciences Department in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, displaying the results of genetic alternations that reflect his innovations in genetic theory. DNA has always been the superstar in the realm of genetics, with RNA playing the role of an obedient waiter, delivering just what it’s told. Thanks to the work of Jorgensen, RNA is now seen as central to things like cell differentiation, production of chemicals like insulin and even the spread of cancer.
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For years, biomedical science has been turning individual genes on and off as way to treat gene-based maladies, and as a research tool. Now, a new challenge involves finding ways to bring the entire genetic blueprint of humans, animals and plants into play.
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