From: Brett Paatsch (paatschb@ocean.com.au)
Date: Sun Sep 15 2002 - 09:05:27 MDT
Robert Bradbury wrote"
> On Sun, 15 Sep 2002, Joao Magalhaes wrote:
>
> > Do you know if anyone has made a proposal to the Human Genome Project
for
> > the sequencing of the bowhead whale genome? It would be a good genome to
> > sequence not just for aging research but also for cancer research.
>
> I think in the past I've sent a note to both George Martin and Steve
> Austad in an effort to lobby in this direction.
>
> I do not know however if they have pushed in this direction.
>
> More proactive action on my part may be required.
I suspect with Austad it may be a case of preaching to the converted. Still
a little encouragement never hurts.
As you are probably aware in his 1997 book "Why We Age", Austad talks about
whales (pilot and killer) rather than bowheads (which presumably have a
higher BMI). I just had a quick skim thru again and on the last page he
states "elephants and whales have far more cells at risk of turning
cancerous than do humans. Thus, they must have specially effective
mechanisms for preventing cells from turning cancerous. (Which begs the
genomics question) what are they?"
I'm pretty sure he advocates research into these lesser studied and less
accessible species elsewhere in his book along with monkeys, bats and birds.
With Venter off again with TIGR it looks like generating genomes moving
forward will become significantly faster and cheaper. Also databases of
homologs and the opportunity to identify beneficial gene cassettes should
improve with more genomic data.
Dunno if we'll find a gene cassette for "fire breathing" though. Your dragon
may need to be an automaton.
Regards,
Brett
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