Tag: dna

‘Gene Scissors’ Technology Causes Unintended Changes in Chromosomes

A recently published study in Nature Genetics shows that the use of CRISPR/Cas “gene scissors” causes unintended genetic changes that are different from random mutations.

According to the study, major structural changes in chromosomes occur much more frequently in the genomic regions targeted by the “gene scissors” than would otherwise be the case.

These results also have implications for the risk assessment of plants obtained from new genetic engineering, TestBiotech reported.

According to the European Union Commission and the European Food Safety Authority, unintentional genetic changes resulting from the use of CRISPR/Cas “gene scissors” are no different from random mutations.

However, a new method of data evaluation shows that this assumption is wrong.

The use of CRISPR/Cas completely interrupts the double DNA strand, thus causing some of the chromosomes to be temporarily separated from the main section.

In the separated (distal) section, the chromosomes can restructure and larger sequences of DNA can be lost (deletions), reversed (inversions) or inserted in the wrong place (insertions).

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Pesticides Designed to ‘Edit’ the Genes of Plants, Animals, Insects — and Humans?

We’re used to gene editing being something that’s done in controlled and contained conditions in the lab, with just the final product being unleashed in the environment.

But coming down the pipeline are pesticides designed to “edit” the genes of organisms out of doors, in the uncontrolled conditions of the open environment.

Applied by spraying, irrigation, or soil pellets, these outdoor-use genetic pesticides are claimed to be more environmentally friendly than chemical pesticides.

The problem is that these genetic pesticides could also “edit” the genes of what scientists call non-target organisms — i.e., people, animals and insects in the environment could become collateral damage.

“Editing” these organisms’ genes means silencing or disrupting their normal functioning.

And the deregulation of gene editing that is occurring and being aggressively promoted around the globe means that these products could be used in open fields with no prior risk assessment, traceability, or monitoring.

Sounding the alarm about this “Wild West” scenario is a new study by an international team of scientists.

The study, based on computer predictive modeling, found that exposure to a CRISPR/Cas gene-editing pesticide could unintentionally alter the genes of a wide assortment of non-target organisms, with potentially serious or even fatal consequences.

And leading the list of potential victims of unintended gene editing are humans.

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EVIDENCE OF ANCIENT HUMAN INTERACTIONS WITH INTELLIGENT “LOST” SPECIES OFFERS CLUES TO THEIR MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE

New investigations into humanity’s ancient interactions with an enigmatic “lost” species are revealing the complex world our early ancestors once shared.

The recent research conducted by an international team of geneticists and AI experts has revealed that the lives of early modern humans and Neanderthals were more interconnected than previously thought. Significantly, the study points to waves of interbreeding over time that fundamentally shaped the genetic makeup of modern humans and offers new insights into the mysterious disappearance of the Neanderthals.

Led by Joshua Akey from Princeton University, the team says it has discovered evidence of such genetic exchanges dating back as far as 250,000 years. This data challenges existing theories about human migrations in the ancient world and what factors may have steered human evolution over time.

The new findings point to a far deeper level of interaction that once occurred between ancient humans and our Neanderthal cousins.

THE NEANDERTHAL ENIGMA

First discovered in 1856, what eventually came to be recognized as the first known Neanderthal bones were found in a limestone quarry in the Neander Valley near Düsseldorf, Germany. The discovery introduced these mysterious archaic hominins to the paleoanthropological record and prompted serious scientific interest in what factors shaped human evolution over time.

Once mischaracterized as slow and lacking intelligence, mounting evidence of traits exhibited by Neanderthals, including advanced stone toolmaking and the possibility that they may have treated each other’s injuries, is continually reshaping our ideas about their intelligence levels.

While similar to us in many ways, the differences between Neanderthal remains and those of modern humans have long remained intriguing to scientists, raising questions that have deepened in recent years with the discovery of another hominin group, known as the Denisovans, that once also populated parts of Asia and South Asia as recently as the latter part of the last Ice Age.

Now, Akey and his team at Princeton’s Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics are uncovering deeper insights than ever before into the genetic history modern humans share with the Neanderthals, who mysteriously vanished from the fossil record around 40,000 years ago.

According to Akey and his team, multiple different waves of interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans appear to have taken place.

“We now know that for the vast majority of human history, we’ve had a history of contact between modern humans and Neanderthals,” Akey recently said.

Liming Li, a professor at Southeast University in China who was also a contributor to the study, called the team’s findings “the first time that geneticists have identified multiple waves of modern human-Neanderthal admixture.”

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Out of Sight, ‘Dark Fungi’ Run the World from the Shadows

If you want to discover a hidden world of new life-forms, you don’t have to scour dark caves or slog through remote rainforests. Just look under your feet. When then-graduate student Anna Rosling went to northern Sweden to map the distribution of a particular root-loving fungus, she found something much more intriguing: Many of her root samples contained traces of DNA from unknown species. Weirder still, she never encountered a complete organism. When the field season ended, she had only isolated bits of raw genetic material. The fragments clearly belonged to the fungal kingdom, but they revealed little else. “I got obsessed,” recalls Rosling, now a professor of evolutionary biology at Uppsala University in Sweden.

Since then mycologists have realized that such phantoms are everywhere. Point to a patch of dirt, a body of water, even the air you’re breathing, and odds are that it is teeming with mushrooms, molds and yeasts (or their spores) that no one has ever seen. In ocean trenches, Tibetan glaciers and all habitats between, researchers are routinely detecting DNA from obscure fungi. By sequencing the snippets, they can tell they’re dealing with new species, thousands of them, that are genetically distinct from any known to science. They just can’t match that DNA to tangible organisms growing out in the world.

These slippery beings are so widespread that scientists are calling them “dark fungi.” It’s a comparison to the equally elusive dark matter and dark energy that make up 95 percent of our universe and exert tremendous influence on, well, everything. Like those invisible entities, dark fungi are hidden movers and shakers. Scientists are convinced they perform the same vital functions as known fungi, directing the flow of energy through ecosystems as they break down organic matter and recycle nutrients. Dark fungi are prime examples of what biologist E. O. Wilson called “the little things that run the world.” But their cryptic lifestyle has made it a maddening challenge for scientists trying to show how exactly they run it.

Taxonomists have described just 150,000 of the millions of fungi predicted by global biodiversity estimates, and recent discoveries suggest a huge portion of what’s left may be off-limits to routine biological investigation. “We have not even started to scratch the surface,” says Henrik Nilsson, a mycologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. “I’d be willing to bet that the clear majority will be dark.” Given the central place of fungi in the web of life that sustains us, experts argue we should get a better grasp on them.

Everything we know about dark fungi comes from environmental DNA, or eDNA. That term refers to strings of base pairs—the building blocks of DNA that are constantly sloughing off all living things. Researchers can analyze these free-floating bits of double helix to determine which species have been hanging around an area without seeing them. To identify fungi specifically, scientists look to a handy genetic marker called the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), which consists of several hundred base pairs that evolve quickly and thus help distinguish between species. Although the ITS is only a tiny fraction of the genome, researchers can single it out and amplify it with the same polymerase chain reaction technology used in COVID lab tests. If an ITS sequence is different enough from all others in genetic databases, it is thought to represent a new species, whether scientists lay eyes on its physical form or not.

At the turn of the millennium, eDNA sequencing burst onto the scene as a new way to discover species. Scientists suddenly found themselves awash in a “flood of data,” as David Hibbett, a mycologist at Clark University, and his colleagues wrote in 2009. That influx exposed the sheer vastness of dark fungi. Today, Hibbett says, “our understanding of the richness of fungal diversity is really being enlarged with these dark organisms.”

Every year researchers stumble on some 2,000 new fungi via the standard route, spotting them in nature or under a microscope. Yet a single eDNA study can register 10 times more dark fungi than that. As often as not, the fragments are among the most abundant DNA samples in their ecosystem. “I don’t think I ever saw an environmental sequencing study with less than 30 percent unknowns,” Nilsson says, and the ratio is typically much higher. Sometimes only a minority of DNA sequences can be classified at any meaningful taxonomic level, narrowing them from a kingdom (in this case, fungi) to a phylum and then to a class, and so on down to a species.

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Two new ‘alien’ mummies from Peru are revealed – and they could be shipped to US for DNA tests

A Mexican journalist claiming to be in possession of alien corpses is looking to American and European scientists to confirm their authenticity.

Two newly unearthed ‘alien’ mummies from Peru have caused waves of controversy since x-ray and ultrasound data on the bodies was unveiled this past March, with archeologists fearing they may be ancient humans dug up by tomb raiders. 

Journalist and UFO researcher Jaime Maussan confirmed to DailyMail.com that more in-depth ‘analyses are being done’ — and he’s suing Peru’s government for the right to ship the bodies to more advanced labs in the US.

Maussan, whose research has courted controversy for nearly a decade, has floated the idea that the mummies might be alien-human ‘hybrids,’ with his scientist colleagues declaring that the new specimens contain ’30 percent unknown’ DNA.

But critics continue to cast doubt on his claims. 

‘Personally, I am not convinced that they are humanoid. I think they’re human,’ Latin American historian Christopher Heaney told DailyMail.com.

Maussan and his colleagues have had an eventful year pushing for wider scientific interest in the apparently alien bodies, including a controversial presentation before Mexico’s Congress and clashes with Peru’s Ministry of Culture.

The drama over the bodies came amid exploding public policy debate on UFOs — as politicians in the United States follow the lead of government whistleblowers and Ivy League scientists in calling for more open research on the mystery. 

Maussan’s clash with his critics reached its most heated moment this past April when a press conference that he held in Peru was raided by police intent on seizing one of the new mummified bodies on display, dubbed ‘Montserrat.’ 

Undaunted, Maussan is now suing the government of Peru both for damages and for the right to ship these mummy specimens to university researchers and other scientists in the United States for more thorough, independent third-party testing.  

‘The lawsuit is already in for $300 million,’ Maussan told DailyMail.com. 

‘We are going to negotiate with Peru,’ Maussan said, ‘to be allowed to export the samples to be done in America.’ 

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Scientists Used CRISPR Gene Editing to Make Chickens Resist Bird Flu — Here’s What Happened

Scientists who used the gene-editing technology CRISPR to create chickens resistant to avian influenza also showed how quickly a dangerous bird flu could mutate from laboratory chickens to humans, critics of a new study in the journal Nature Communications told The Defender.

The authors of the study, led by researchers at Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, altered the genetic code of 10 chickens to make them resistant to a bird-flu virus and then exposed them to the virus.

They also included 10 chickens in the study that were not genetically altered. All 10 chickens not genetically altered got sick when they were exposed to the virus. Only one of the genetically altered chickens got sick with the bird flu.

Altering a species’ DNA “promises a new way to make permanent changes in the disease resistance of an animal,” University of Edinburgh embryologist Mike McGrew, Ph.D., an author of the study, said at an Oct. 5 news briefing announcing the peer-reviewed research.

“This can be passed down through all the gene-edited animals, to all the offspring.”

According to the study, “Chickens genetically resistant to avian influenza could prevent future outbreaks. … Breeding for resistance and resilience to disease has significant potential in farmed poultry,” freeing farmers from routinely having to vaccinate birds.

But Jonathan Latham, executive director of the Bioscience Resource Project, who has a master’s degree in crop genetics and a Ph.D. in virology, told The Defender,

“The experiments were ultimately a failure of ‘the operation was a success but the patient died’ variety.”

When the 10 genetically altered chickens were exposed to a much higher dose of bird flu — more in line with what the chickens could be exposed to in nature or a factory farm setting — five of the 10 chickens developed the flu.

Virus samples collected from the infected, genetically altered birds showed the virus had made several mutations that seemed to allow it to bind to the ANP32A protein to replicate in the chickens, the study reported.

The virus also mutated a workaround to bind to two other related proteins for replication.

Worse yet, according to Latham, mutations also helped the virus replicate more efficiently in human cells.

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Proof the Beast of Cumbria exists?: Scientists find big cat DNA on savaged sheep in the Lake District

There have long been rumours that big cats roam the British countryside.

Blurred photographs, large inexplicable tracks and dramatic eye-witness accounts routinely add to the mystery of their existence.

But now scientists say they have found definitive proof a leopard prowls the Lake District – after they matched DNA found on a dead sheep to a non-native large feline.

Professor Robin Allaby analysed a sample taken from the sheep’s carcass and discovered ‘Panthera genus’ DNA – meaning it had to have come from a lion, leopard, tiger, jaguar or snow leopard.

He said a leopard was the most likely on British soil and that the exciting finding was the first scientific proof that large, non-native cats roam the UK.

Biologist Prof Allaby, who said he had always been ‘open-minded’ about the existence of big cats in Britain, told BBC Wildlife magazine that the results of his test had left him in no doubt there was one stalking the Cumbria countryside.

‘It makes me a convert,’ he said. ‘On the balance of probabilities, I think this is a genuine hit.’

The remains of the sheep were discovered by Cumbrian resident Sharon Larkin-Snowden in an undisclosed upland location in October.

She disturbed whatever had been feeding on the carcass and the animal ran towards a stone wall before disappearing.

‘I saw something black, running, and I assumed at first it was a sheepdog,’ she said. ‘Then I did a double take and realised it was a black cat. It ran towards a stone wall, stopped and then jumped the wall. It was big – the size of a German shepherd dog.’

Ms Larkin-Snowden took a swab of the carcass and sent it to Rick Minter, the host of the Big Cat Conversations podcast, who passed it on to Prof Allaby.

He analysed the sample at his laboratory at the University of Warwick and discovered both fox and Panthera DNA. He said the findings suggested the sheep had been eaten by both a fox and a big cat, such as a leopard.

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The effects of mRNA injections editing our genes could be devastating to our humanity

Professor Michael Plank of Covid-19 Aotearoa Modelling and Te Punaha Matatini Centre for Complex Systems and Networks is a mathematical biologist and epidemiologist commissioned by the New Zealand government to deliver mathematical modelling of covid-19 in support of the pandemic response.

[Yesterday], he advised us all to roll the genetic dice one more time and get another covid-19 mRNA vaccine to avoid winter illness. Is he up to date on the risks for the individual and humanity? Let’s find out.

A team of doctors at the authoritative Harvard Medical School is offering us another opinion in the journal The Neurohospitalist under the title ‘Fatal Post Covid mRNA-Vaccine Associated Cerebral Ischemia’. The study discusses a case of a thirty-year-old female recipient of the Moderna mRNA covid injection who subsequently developed circulatory and inflammatory problems in her brain followed by a fatal stroke.

The authors conclude: “The side effects of covid-19 infection and vaccination are still incompletely understood … clinicians should be aware of presentations like this one.”

Individual Risks are Growing with Each Vaccine

As we pointed out in our last article, the medical authorities really don’t know what is causing a surge in winter illness coming on top of our already overwhelmed hospital system. In an interview with Jamie Morton of the New Zealand Herald, Professor Plank references new so-called “FLiRT variants” of the JN.1 covid strain. Rather than pressing the fear button and urging one more throw of the covid-19 vaccine dice, Professor Plank might have drawn upon a couple of principles from Virology 101.

At this point in the pandemic, the biggest drivers of covid variation are actually covid-19 vaccines. The more covid vaccines, the more covid variants. Variants are running into uncountable millions. Among them, covid variants that evade covid-19 vaccines are set to flourish and spread.

Secondly, as we have referenced previously, repeated doses of covid vaccines cause Vaccine Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (“VAIDS”).

Thirdly, as is now admitted in the scientific literature, the more mRNA covid-19 vaccine doses you have, the more exposed you become to serious risks, including heart disease, stroke and cancer.

We reported just days ago that prominent vaccine advocate Dr. Vinay Prasad is now suggesting that the evidence shows the risk of serious illness following mRNA covid vaccination outweighs any potential benefit.

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mRNA Vaccines Permanently Alter DNA of the Vaxxed & Their Offspring — Censored Study

Dr. Peter McCullough posted a video to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday which focused on censorship by LinkedIn of a study which documented how mRNA gene therapy ‘vaccines’ such as the Covid shots permanently alter the genetics of the vaccinated and their progeny via insertion of mRNA into the human DNA.

“The Pfizer and Moderna genetic code is permanently installed into the human genome,” McCullough said. “So as we sit here today we have to reconcile that Pfizer and Moderna potentially could have permanently changed the human genome.”

The doctor went on to say that conclusive research has not yet been conduct to confirm if the entire mRNA sequence is permanently incorporated into DNA, as he hopes the body will edit it out, yet it’s a strong possibility that mankind has forever been fundamentally altered, something he referred to as ‘very disturbing’.

McCullough also discussed the concern that the Pfizer and Moderna genetic code has imbedded itself within sex cells, causing permanent mutations for all offspring of the vaccinated lineage.

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Democrats Block Child Trafficking Deterrent to Require DNA Tests for Migrants Crossing Border with Kids

Senate Democrats have blocked what former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials called “a strong deterrent” against child trafficking at the United States-Mexico border.

On Thursday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sought to pass by unanimous consent the End Child Trafficking Now Act which would require DHS to DNA test all adult migrants and the children they arrive with at the southern border to prove they are relatives.

Senate Democrats blocked its passage.

The bill’s goal, Blackburn and other Senate Republicans said, is to end the process of child trafficking where adult migrants bring unrelated children with them to cross the border in the hopes of being released into the U.S. interior.

President Joe Biden’s DHS reportedly ended such DNA testing last year.

Last year, Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration’s ending DNA testing would ultimately lead to a spike in child trafficking.

“The results are very predictable: A return to more child smuggling, child recycling, and child trafficking. Say you’re a family and we’ll take your word for it,” Ries said.

DHS officials have previously suggested that as many as 3-in-10 children arriving at the border with adult migrants are being trafficked.

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