Fruit flies give researchers new insights into the ‘highway of the nerve cells’
The nervous system of the fly has been researched thoroughly by scientist, and have found out that the protein Rab2 has to be in the system for all the nerve cells to function. When removed acting like a “traffic jam” of the nervous system. This relates to humans, where people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease whose changes in Rab2 gene may be responsible for. The scientists say that we humans share 75% of disease-related genes with fruit flies, and that the connection of the Rab2 in our nervous system cells may be of far more importance than initially thought. The researchers best guess is that the Rab2 protein is the connection of motor proteins controlling the nervous system contents forward, which acts like “glue” holding everything in place. The plan for the future is that this research can help in the creation of drugs that will help with degenerative diseases of neurology related matters.
Learn about our two Decals!
Click here to find out more about our Fall Bioinspired Design Decal and our Spring Bioinspired Design in Action Decal – ALL MAJORS are welcome.
Berkeley BioDesign Community
Click here to learn about the BioD: Bio-Inspired Design @ Berkeley student organization or here to signup for more info.
Search
Student Login
I imagine that the neurological circuits underlying these processes are governed by both 2d spacing maps with their brains as…
to reduce the impact of car accidents, it may be possible to study the force diverting physics of cockroaches to…
you see this type of head-bobbing stability in many avian creatures related to pigeons like chickens. the head ability to…
not like they taught horses how to run! this is an example of convergent evolution where both sea creatures and…
The brain functions in a similar way with neuronal connections. our brains are able to utilize the multiplicity of connections…