Herbsprout.com

Nature is doing its own repairing with growth of plastic eating enzymes

Dec

30

• Comments(0) |
• Reply |
• Permalink

Scientists at the Chalmers University in Sweden that one in every four organisms in the microbiomes they studied carries a protein sequence for plastic-degrading enzymes, according to an article published December 16 2021 in The Nerdist.com.

Scientists identified locations where these plastic degrading microbiomes are growing in number alongside plastic pollution in the oceans. As to whether or not this development is keeping up with plastic pollution growth is still to be determined.

https://nerdist.com/article/ocean-plastic-pollution-causing-rise-in-plastic-eating-microbes/?amp

https://medium.com/illumination/microbes-to-clean-the-oceans-c2e55d65ff9c

Autism tied to mother's microbiome

Dec

12

• Comments(0) |
• Reply |
• Permalink

According to a December 08 2021 Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (Genengnews) article, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be sourced by inflammation in the mother's womb leading to gastrointestinal issues in the child.

Based on mouse models of autism used by scientists at Harvard (Medical School) and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), IL-17A not only changes the mother’s gut microbiome but it also alters brain development in the fetus, affecting the offspring’s immune system. This change in immune development primes the offspring for inflammatory attacks of the gut after birth, leading to neurodevelopmental and immunological symptoms (1).

The findings are based on mouse studies of IL-17a during pregnancy by Gloria Choi, PhD, associate professor at the department of brain and cognitive sciences at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Jun Huh, PhD, associate professor of immunology, Harvard Medical School.

In related news in 2017, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute discovered a new way to identify children on the autism spectrum based on concentrations of specific substances, folate-dependent one-carbon (FOCM) metabolism and transsulfuration (TS) pathways, found in their blood samples (2).

1) https://www.genengnews.com/topics/omics/autism-linked-immune-problems-are-caused-by-maternal-gut-bacteria/

2) https://www.genengnews.com/news/autism-blood-test-incorporates-big-data-techniques/