January 21, 2008
Research among Discover magazine’s top 100
jonathan.sherwood@rochester.edu
Wolbachia genes transferring to host’s DNA. (Illustration: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science.
The research of Jack Werren, professor in the
Department of Biology, has made Discover magazine’s Top 100 Science Stories of 2007.
Also on Discover’s list is the FDA approval of the bird flu vaccine,
key testing of which was led by John Treanor, professor of medicine and of
microbiology and immunology.
Werren, along with his colleagues at the J. Craig
Venter Institute, was recognized for revealing a copy of the genome of
a bacterial parasite residing inside the genome of its host species. The
research showed that lateral gene transfer—the movement of genes
between unrelated species—may happen much more frequently between
bacteria and multicellular organisms than scientists previously believed,
posing dramatic implications for evolution, pest, and disease control.
Such large-scale heritable gene transfers may allow
species to acquire new genes and functions extremely quickly, says Werren,
a principal investigator of the study. If such genes provide new abilities
in species that cause or transmit disease, they could provide new targets
for fighting these diseases.
“It didn’t seem possible at first,”
says Werren, a leading authority on the parasite, called Wolbachia. “The
host’s genes actually hold the coding information for a completely
separate species.”
At the Medical Center, Treanor’s University
Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, together with scientists around
the nation, showed that large doses of the vaccine are safe and effective
at protecting people against bird flu.
“We feel very honored to have been able to
contribute to this important effort, and we are especially grateful to our
volunteer study subjects, without whom none of this research would have
been possible,” says Treanor.
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