Bread Mold May Hold Secret to Eliminating Disease-Causing Genes

http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Bread-mold-may-hold-secret-to-eliminating-disease-causing-genes-18838-1/

Picture of a very moldy piece of bread.

Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wurr/487545405/

Jones, Bryan. "Bread mold may hold secret to eliminating disease-causing genes." Bio-Medicine. Bio-Medicine, 08 May 2008. Web. 09 Mar 2010. .

• Mold on bread May be key for targeting viruses like the HIV virus by silencing certain genes in meiosis.


• A small mechanism that is activated during meiosis can detect anomalies, and if a gene is silenced, it is possible to shutdown invading viruses.


• During meiosis, and by silencing a gene, mold can shutdown all copies when it detects an intruder in the process of meiosis, which in this case would be the virus.


• Basically, when a virus, deadly or not, invades mold, there is a chance that the mold may be able to shutdown the section of virus itself by silencing and detecting the anomaly during meiosis.


• This advancement could possibly improve disesase prevention, if it is possible to link this process to human genes.
  

Reflection

This story of bread mold is truly puzzling, but very intriguing. i chose this article, because it sounded extraordinarily odd, yet interesting in the same manner. Mold stopping viruses as big as the HIV virus is very impressive. If the process of silencing genes during the process of meiosis in order to shutdown viruses can be applied to humans with the same effect, then this would be a major weapon against fighting disease. I only wonder why only mold has the mechanism that can trigger the virus on and off. Maybe it was an adaptation from the process of decay. It could have a Darwinian explanation, or simply it was because of the environment that mold thrives in. I don't have any real interest in pursuing the field of researching meiosis but I hope this advancement is expanded on. I wish that one day someone can discover a way to manipulate something in a gene to prevent diseases and viruses. I've learned that perhaps looking for help in biology, doesn't always come from the most ideal places. Any new gene or item can be found anywhere in the structure of an organism.