UC Science Today

How do genes properly distinguish an arm from a leg during development? In a recent study on bats, researcher Nadav Ahituv of the University of California, San Francisco found that a total of 7000 genes were expressed differently in the wing versus the hind leg. His team did this by sequencing the bat’s entire genome, and found that switches known as “enhancers” control these wing formation genes.

"So we made a fully annotated genome so we can find where the switches are, near what genes they are, and what genes they might be regulating. Enhancers are sort of the on switch, they tell the gene when to turn on, and at what level, and at what location. Most genes have what's called a promoter, right next to them. And so the enhancers are sort of the promoter of the promoter, they tell the promoter when to turn on the gene."

But not all genes expressed in either the wing or the leg may be directly involved in their development.

"More functional studies will need to be done to prove that but at least, in terms of the number of genes that we saw that are different, it’s quite high."

How do genes properly distinguish an arm from a leg during development? In a recent study on bats, researcher Nadav Ahituv of the University of California, San Francisco found that a total of 7000 genes were expressed differently in the wing versus the hind leg. His team did this by sequencing the bat’s entire genome, and found that switches known as “enhancers” control these wing formation genes.

"So we made a fully annotated genome so we can find where the switches are, near what genes they are, and what genes they might be regulating. Enhancers are sort of the on switch, they tell the gene when to turn on, and at what level, and at what location. Most genes have what's called a promoter, right next to them. And so the enhancers are sort of the promoter of the promoter, they tell the promoter when to turn on the gene."

But not all genes expressed in either the wing or the leg may be directly involved in their development.

"More functional studies will need to be done to prove that but at least, in terms of the number of genes that we saw that are different, it’s quite high."

It turns out that remote coral reefs can thrive despite threats posed by climate change. This is great news for advocates for coral reef preservation since a decade-long study found that those surrounding remote islands were dramatically healthier than those in populated areas subject to a variety of human impacts, including overfishing and coastal development. Study leader Jennifer Smith of the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography led the study.

"Coral reefs are home to more species than any other marine ecosystem on the planet. And they’re characteristically different than most ecosystems on the planet because they are dominated by animals, these corals that grow on the bottom. And so in a healthy coral reef, you have a landscape that is dominated by these beautiful reef building corals that are really the ecosystem engineers - that provides food and shelter for all the other organisms that live in that ecosystem."

Their new study shows that preservation efforts can buy researchers time as they figure out how to deal with the threat posed by ocean warming.

It turns out that remote coral reefs can thrive despite threats posed by climate change. This is great news for advocates for coral reef preservation since a decade-long study found that those surrounding remote islands were dramatically healthier than those in populated areas subject to a variety of human impacts, including overfishing and coastal development. Study leader Jennifer Smith of the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography led the study.

"Coral reefs are home to more species than any other marine ecosystem on the planet. And they’re characteristically different than most ecosystems on the planet because they are dominated by animals, these corals that grow on the bottom. And so in a healthy coral reef, you have a landscape that is dominated by these beautiful reef building corals that are really the ecosystem engineers - that provides food and shelter for all the other organisms that live in that ecosystem."

Their new study shows that preservation efforts can buy researchers time as they figure out how to deal with the threat posed by ocean warming.

It turns out that remote coral reefs can thrive despite threats posed by climate change. This is great news for advocates for coral reef preservation since a decade-long study found that those surrounding remote islands were dramatically healthier than those in populated areas subject to a variety of human impacts, including overfishing and coastal development. Study leader Jennifer Smith of the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography led the study.

"Coral reefs are home to more species than any other marine ecosystem on the planet. And they’re characteristically different than most ecosystems on the planet because they are dominated by animals, these corals that grow on the bottom. And so in a healthy coral reef, you have a landscape that is dominated by these beautiful reef building corals that are really the ecosystem engineers - that provides food and shelter for all the other organisms that live in that ecosystem."

Their new study shows that preservation efforts can buy researchers time as they figure out how to deal with the threat posed by ocean warming.

One of the challenges facing materials scientists is how to match new materials to the properties of existing materials. Take metals, for instance. Suveen Mathaudhu of the University of California, Riverside is working on developing lighter weight materials, like aluminum, and making them as strong as steel.

"We have to use new ways of processing the materials and designing the materials to bringing their properties up to those closer to conventional materials . The way that we choose to do that is we take the grain structures and grains are small crystals that make up a metal, and refine them down to the naonoscale, generally below what the eye can see. And when you take the grain size below one hundred nanometers, the physics change. And one of the more interesting ways that it changes is that they get very, very, very, very strong. The main goal of our research is nanostructuring of these metals, to be able to boost the properties closer to applications or maybe even beyond the materials used for existing applications."

One of the challenges facing materials scientists is how to match new materials to the properties of existing materials. Take metals, for instance. Suveen Mathaudhu of the University of California, Riverside is working on developing lighter weight materials, like aluminum, and making them as strong as steel.

"We have to use new ways of processing the materials and designing the materials to bringing their properties up to those closer to conventional materials . The way that we choose to do that is we take the grain structures and grains are small crystals that make up a metal, and refine them down to the naonoscale, generally below what the eye can see. And when you take the grain size below one hundred nanometers, the physics change. And one of the more interesting ways that it changes is that they get very, very, very, very strong. The main goal of our research is nanostructuring of these metals, to be able to boost the properties closer to applications or maybe even beyond the materials used for existing applications."

One of the challenges facing materials scientists is how to match new materials to the properties of existing materials. Take metals, for instance. Suveen Mathaudhu of the University of California, Riverside is working on developing lighter weight materials, like aluminum, and making them as strong as steel.

"We have to use new ways of processing the materials and designing the materials to bringing their properties up to those closer to conventional materials . The way that we choose to do that is we take the grain structures and grains are small crystals that make up a metal, and refine them down to the naonoscale, generally below what the eye can see. And when you take the grain size below one hundred nanometers, the physics change. And one of the more interesting ways that it changes is that they get very, very, very, very strong. The main goal of our research is nanostructuring of these metals, to be able to boost the properties closer to applications or maybe even beyond the materials used for existing applications."

The carbon-based "miracle" material graphene has unique molecular qualities that make it useful for microscopic tasks like water filtration. But the nanomaterial’s fragility can limit its effectiveness. Recent research lead by Baoxia Mi at the University of California, Berkeley found ways to strengthen the bonds between thin layers of graphene and improve the material’s durability as a water filter.

"We found that we have to glue these layers of graphene oxide together, which means that we have to create some forces between them, and that's how we overcome this challenge. We just use some chemical approaches to bond the layers of graphene oxide."

Mi has used two methods to bond the material. There’s a more complicated technique, which involves reacting the graphene with chemicals, and a simpler approach.

"We just sandwich some positive charged materials between the graphene oxide. The graphene oxide themselves are negatively charged. So by this sandwiching approach, we can make the membrane filter very stable."

The carbon-based "miracle" material graphene has unique molecular qualities that make it useful for microscopic tasks like water filtration. But the nanomaterial’s fragility can limit its effectiveness. Recent research lead by Baoxia Mi at the University of California, Berkeley found ways to strengthen the bonds between thin layers of graphene and improve the material’s durability as a water filter.

"We found that we have to glue these layers of graphene oxide together, which means that we have to create some forces between them, and that's how we overcome this challenge. We just use some chemical approaches to bond the layers of graphene oxide."

Mi has used two methods to bond the material. There’s a more complicated technique, which involves reacting the graphene with chemicals, and a simpler approach.

"We just sandwich some positive charged materials between the graphene oxide. The graphene oxide themselves are negatively charged. So by this sandwiching approach, we can make the membrane filter very stable."