Medical Discovery News
Science permeates everyday life. Yet the understanding of advances in biomedical science is limited at best. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today for the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly five-hundred-word newspaper column (http://www.illuminascicom.com/) and two-minute radio show provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics. Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine. Each release is designed to stimulate listeners to think, question and appreciate how science affects their health as well as that of the rest of the world. We also delve into significant biomedical discoveries and portray how science (or the lack of it) has impacted health throughout history.
Medical Discovery News
Obelisks There living in You
971 - Obelisks They’re living in You
Welcome to Medical Discovery News. I’m Dr. David Niesel.
And I’m Dr. Norbert Herzog.
Not only can we report on the discovery of a new life form, it’s living inside of us!
Wait, just you and me?
We can debate if we’re human (chuckle), although, sometimes I’d like to take a break from being human.
No kidding! Since we can’t, back to the episode - a new life form! Hidden among the microbiome of our mouths and guts are thousands of virus-like entities scientists have named obelisks.
These strange RNA are also in bacteria, and there’s already a debate over whether they’re alive. Scientists discovered the obelisks while analyzing huge collections of RNA sequences extracted from human stool and saliva samples.
RNA, short for ribonucleic acid, is a molecule that can carry genetic information. Scientists discovered the obelisks when they saw more than thirty thousand distinct circular RNAs in the database that don’t look like any other RNAs.
While viruses, even those with RNA genomes all have a protein coat, obelisks lack one. They resemble plant pathogens called viroids which are also made of RNA and lack a protein coat. But that’s where the similarity ends.
Viroid RNAs do not encode any proteins while obelisks encode unique proteins called oblins. It is not known what these proteins do in bacteria or human cells, if anything.
We have so many questions: what are they? Are obelisks evolutionary relics? Are they precursors to viruses? How do they impact our health? We’ll need more studies but for now, this is a fascinating work in progress!
We are Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, at UTMB and Quinnipiac University, where biomedical discoveries shape the future of medicine. For much more and our disclaimer go to medicaldiscoverynews.com or listen to our podcast on your favorite podcast service.
