The Genetic Spark of L.I.F.E.

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by Eflex tha Vybe Scientist, Jul 18, 2002.

  1. Eflex tha Vybe Scientist Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    190
    Ahhhhh....
    the infamous electro-chemical process that begins with harmless flirtation and then progresses into a surge of milions of sperm hoping to achieve fertilization..

    The last stages of the process has confounded scientists for CENTURIES.

    Until now......
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-358995,00.html

    BRITISH scientists have discovered the gene that provides the spark of life, when an egg is fertilised by a sperm, in research that promises dramatic advances in fertility treatment and stem cell experiments.
    A ten-year study has revealed that the gene in sperm triggers the crucial process by which an egg starts dividing to form an embryo, solving a mystery that has confounded medical science for two centuries.

    The breakthrough, by researchers at the University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff and University College, London, paves the way for improved therapy for infertile couples and treatments that use cloned stem cells to tackle Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes.

    Scientists believe it will eventually allow them to fertilise eggs using sperm that have previously been considered useless, and to transform success rates in therapeutic cloning.

    It has long been known that fertilisation is followed by a surge of calcium but the molecules that start this process have remained elusive.

    “We’re thrilled to be at the forefront of such an exciting discovery,” Professor Tony Lai, head of the Cardiff team, said. “The potential benefits to medicine are immense.”
     
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  3. Eflex tha Vybe Scientist Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    190
    I wonder what altering this specific gene will do to the process of fertilization???

    Also I wonder why ca+ cations are used to initiate fertilization?
     
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