Question
Lasso, George, a wizened Galapagos giant tortoise, was the last of his kind. When a researcher spotted the nearly 5 foot long reptile roaming Pinta Island in 1971, his species had been extinct for decades. During the 40 years that-until his day at in 2000-Lonesome George was believed to be the only Pinta giant tortoise on the planet.
Now, researchers are using the iconic tortoises, genetic material along with DNA from other long-lived turtle, the Aldabra giant tortoise, to better understand what it takes to live a long life.
in a new study published Mundi in nature, ecology and evolution, the researchers sequenced lonesome George and his fellow giant tortoises gene to compare the common genetic links among other long living animals, such as naked, rats, bats, so species of whales and humans.
They found a set of genetic adaptations related to cancer suppression, DNA repair and inflammation, laying the groundwork for future experiments into the mechanics of aging.
With a new insight into turtle biology, the researchers also hope this analysis might help prevent the long, lonely end of the world’s remaining giant tortoises
What they did
When Adalgisa ‘Gisela’ Caccone began trying to assemble the complete set of lonesome George’s jeans in 2010, the technology was slow and expensive.
Sequencing a genome involves figuring out the order of every DNA base in an organism sale. The human Genome project, an effort to map all gene in the human genome completed in 2003, it took nearly 15 years from planning the sequence completion and cost $2.7 billion-well out of the budget for a tortoise conservation project.
But Caccone, an evolutionary biologist from the Yale university, benefited from a subsequent boom in sequencing technology. With lonesome George’s genetic sequence in hand, Coccone needed someone with expertise in genome analysis. When a group of researchers from Spain put out a call for tortoise gene to study Caccone told them “ you came from heaven”
Victor Quesada of the university of Oviedo in northern Spain, was one of those researchers. He saw an opportunity to compare these rare reptiles with what we already know about human aging, and then to explore the genes that might control the process.
A genome doesn’t come divided into jeans, so the team chose two methods to break it down
The first was an automatic approach Quasada said. They tried to predict all the genes present in the giant tortoises using algorithm that compared their genomes to know Jean sequences from Chinese softshell turtles and humans.
Humans and tortoises shared a common ancestor around 300 million years ago., So despite their visual differences, the species still share a lot of genes Quasada said. Every biochemical lesson you learn from one species, you could probably apply it directly to another.
The second approach was a manual analysis. We look for genes associated with longevity, Quasada said. for an organism to live for a long time, it must avoid disease-like cancer and diabetes-as well as the degeneration of his joint, muscles and organs. So Quasada list included genes known to produce proteins that regulate the weight and organism processes, nutrients, repairs, DNA and kills all pathogens and tumors
by targeting more than 3000 thousands of interest, the researchers tease out the variations between humans and tortoises
That analysis is very powerful. It distinguishes this paper for many other papers said. Vadim Gladyshev, a biologist, his studies aging at the Harvard medical school and was not involved in the new study. The paper is an important advance in terms of turtle biology, but in terms of the comparative approach it is also an important resource.
Why it matters
Thanks to this analysis, the researchers were able to narrow down their original list of 3000 jeans to 43 specific sequences that might have contributed to Lawson George’s long, disease, free life. For researchers who study aging, those will be the next targets for further experiments into how those genes actually change and organism’s life
Understanding those jeans could be vital for species related to lonesome George, said Linda cayot, science advisor to the Galapagos conservancy group that advocates for the protection of the Galapagos islands and their animal inhabitants and their animal shoot inhabitants. Their long, slow existence has been key to their survival from a time of over exploitation to a time of greater in enlightenment and conservation. She wrote in an email.
Lawson, George’s death,Cayot said, inspired scientific interest in giant tortoises, and spurred conservation efforts that might protect the remaining species of Galapagos giant tortoises from the same fate. We even plan to restore a tortoise population toPinta-Lawson, George’s Island, Cayot wrote.
Lawson George was a conservation icon, Caccone say it, but a conservation icon that can also provide insights into human health and aging: rarely do you find “one genome can do both.”
When we sequence the last animal of a species, how often is the last message it’s sending one of Hope for us Caccone saying
Use the article to answer the question
How does the author shape the central idea?
by comparing the genes of giant tortoises, like lonesome George to human genes to learn more about human aging
by telling readers how to use the information scientists gathered about and George to help them have longer lives
by explaining my lonesome George is scientifically interesting and then showing how scientist can use data gathered from him to learn more about humans
by showing how studying lots of George’s life will help scientist prevent the extinction of giant tortoises, which not too long ago seemed inevitable
Now, researchers are using the iconic tortoises, genetic material along with DNA from other long-lived turtle, the Aldabra giant tortoise, to better understand what it takes to live a long life.
in a new study published Mundi in nature, ecology and evolution, the researchers sequenced lonesome George and his fellow giant tortoises gene to compare the common genetic links among other long living animals, such as naked, rats, bats, so species of whales and humans.
They found a set of genetic adaptations related to cancer suppression, DNA repair and inflammation, laying the groundwork for future experiments into the mechanics of aging.
With a new insight into turtle biology, the researchers also hope this analysis might help prevent the long, lonely end of the world’s remaining giant tortoises
What they did
When Adalgisa ‘Gisela’ Caccone began trying to assemble the complete set of lonesome George’s jeans in 2010, the technology was slow and expensive.
Sequencing a genome involves figuring out the order of every DNA base in an organism sale. The human Genome project, an effort to map all gene in the human genome completed in 2003, it took nearly 15 years from planning the sequence completion and cost $2.7 billion-well out of the budget for a tortoise conservation project.
But Caccone, an evolutionary biologist from the Yale university, benefited from a subsequent boom in sequencing technology. With lonesome George’s genetic sequence in hand, Coccone needed someone with expertise in genome analysis. When a group of researchers from Spain put out a call for tortoise gene to study Caccone told them “ you came from heaven”
Victor Quesada of the university of Oviedo in northern Spain, was one of those researchers. He saw an opportunity to compare these rare reptiles with what we already know about human aging, and then to explore the genes that might control the process.
A genome doesn’t come divided into jeans, so the team chose two methods to break it down
The first was an automatic approach Quasada said. They tried to predict all the genes present in the giant tortoises using algorithm that compared their genomes to know Jean sequences from Chinese softshell turtles and humans.
Humans and tortoises shared a common ancestor around 300 million years ago., So despite their visual differences, the species still share a lot of genes Quasada said. Every biochemical lesson you learn from one species, you could probably apply it directly to another.
The second approach was a manual analysis. We look for genes associated with longevity, Quasada said. for an organism to live for a long time, it must avoid disease-like cancer and diabetes-as well as the degeneration of his joint, muscles and organs. So Quasada list included genes known to produce proteins that regulate the weight and organism processes, nutrients, repairs, DNA and kills all pathogens and tumors
by targeting more than 3000 thousands of interest, the researchers tease out the variations between humans and tortoises
That analysis is very powerful. It distinguishes this paper for many other papers said. Vadim Gladyshev, a biologist, his studies aging at the Harvard medical school and was not involved in the new study. The paper is an important advance in terms of turtle biology, but in terms of the comparative approach it is also an important resource.
Why it matters
Thanks to this analysis, the researchers were able to narrow down their original list of 3000 jeans to 43 specific sequences that might have contributed to Lawson George’s long, disease, free life. For researchers who study aging, those will be the next targets for further experiments into how those genes actually change and organism’s life
Understanding those jeans could be vital for species related to lonesome George, said Linda cayot, science advisor to the Galapagos conservancy group that advocates for the protection of the Galapagos islands and their animal inhabitants and their animal shoot inhabitants. Their long, slow existence has been key to their survival from a time of over exploitation to a time of greater in enlightenment and conservation. She wrote in an email.
Lawson, George’s death,Cayot said, inspired scientific interest in giant tortoises, and spurred conservation efforts that might protect the remaining species of Galapagos giant tortoises from the same fate. We even plan to restore a tortoise population toPinta-Lawson, George’s Island, Cayot wrote.
Lawson George was a conservation icon, Caccone say it, but a conservation icon that can also provide insights into human health and aging: rarely do you find “one genome can do both.”
When we sequence the last animal of a species, how often is the last message it’s sending one of Hope for us Caccone saying
Use the article to answer the question
How does the author shape the central idea?
by comparing the genes of giant tortoises, like lonesome George to human genes to learn more about human aging
by telling readers how to use the information scientists gathered about and George to help them have longer lives
by explaining my lonesome George is scientifically interesting and then showing how scientist can use data gathered from him to learn more about humans
by showing how studying lots of George’s life will help scientist prevent the extinction of giant tortoises, which not too long ago seemed inevitable
Answers
GPT-4o mini
The author shapes the central idea **by explaining why Lonesome George is scientifically interesting and then showing how scientists can use data gathered from him to learn more about humans.**
Throughout the article, the author highlights Lonesome George's significance not only as a conservation icon but also as a source of genetic information that can provide insights into longevity and aging in humans. The focus is on how the analysis of his genetic material and comparisons with human genes can yield valuable knowledge about aging processes, rather than solely on conservation efforts or personal longevity tips for readers.
Throughout the article, the author highlights Lonesome George's significance not only as a conservation icon but also as a source of genetic information that can provide insights into longevity and aging in humans. The focus is on how the analysis of his genetic material and comparisons with human genes can yield valuable knowledge about aging processes, rather than solely on conservation efforts or personal longevity tips for readers.