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On episode #6 of the podcast This Week in Microbiology, Vincent, Cliff, Michael and Elio review the use of bacteriophages to manage infections, and the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in bacteriophages from urban sewage and river water.

Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Cliff Mintz, Michael Schmidt, and Elio Schaecter.

Subscribe to TWiM (free) on iTunes,  Zune Marketplace, via RSS feed, by email or listen on your mobile device with the Microbeworld app.

Links for this episode:

• Potential bacteriophage applications (Microbe)
• Revived interest in bacteriophages (Current Biology)
• Pulmonary bacteriophage therapy for Pseudomonas infections (PLoS One)
• Bacteriophage therapy for chronic otitis (Clin Otolaryngology)
• Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans bacteriophage capable of lysing biofilm (AEM)
• Clinical trials using bacteriophage
• Antibiotic resistance genes in environmental bacteriophages (PLoS One)
• Letters read on TWiM #6

The model of bacteriophage T4 shown in the photo is described here.

Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or mp3 file) to twim@twiv.tv , or call them in to 908-312-0760. You can also post articles that you would like us to discuss at microbeworld.org and tag them with twim.

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I have always wondered why dogs eat grass and other plants. After all there isn’t much nutritional value in them. An old wives tale or urban legend (more politically correct) suggests that dogs may eat grass because they are either sick or not feeling well. And, because of the grass eating they vomit afterwards to feel better.

It was just the other day that I asked my wife if she knew why dogs eat grass. Much to my surprise, the next day I came across an article in this month’s edition of the Healthy Pet Magazine that describes a study conducted by three veterinarians to find an answer to this vexing question. (Apparently, there isn’t even a consensus among veterinarians regarding the grass eating phenomenon).

The authors of the study conduct three surveys to get to the bottom of this conundrum. First they asked 25 veterinary students who owned dogs about their dogs’ grass eating habits. All reported that their dogs ate grass, didn’t exhibit an overt signs of illness and 8% said their dogs regularly vomited after afterwards

Next, they surveyed 47 dog owners that brought their dogs to veterinary hospital for outpatient care. Among this group, 70% per cent reported that their dogs ate plants mostly grass. Of the 37 owners that answered questions about their dog’s behavior before and after eating plants, 4 dogs showed signs of illness and only 6 vomited.

Finally, they conducted a web survey among dog owners whose dogs regularly eat plants or grass. Based on responses from 1,571 dog owners they found:

• 68% of dogs ingested plants or grass on a daily or weekly basis
• 8% of dogs frequently show signs of illness prior to eating plants or grass
• 22% of dogs regularly vomit after eating plants
• Of the plant eating dogs, younger dogs eat more than older dogs
• There is no relationship between plant or grass eating and dietary habits (table scraps vs dog food) or fiber deficiencies

The bottom line: plant eating is a common behavior in normal dogs unrelated to illness and most dogs do not vomit afterwards. Vomiting seems to be incidental rather caused by plant eating.

This once again begs the question—why do dogs eat grass? The authors of the study posit that plant or grass eating may be a behavioral trait inherited from wolves (the dog’s ancestor) that may have possibly helped to purge the animals of parasites. In other words, nobody really knows the reason why dogs eat plants and grass.

Don’t you just love science? You get some answers to seemingly simple questions which, in turn, spawn new ideas and additional experimentation. I knew there had to be a reason why scientists decided to sequence the dog genome! Anybody up for finding the canine grass-eating gene(s)?

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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The decision yesterday rendered by Federal District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet that invalidated the patents issued to Myriad Genetics for the breast cancer marker genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 is analogous to the “shot heard round the world” that kicked off the American Revolution in 1775. While it isn’t clear whether or not the decision will stand (Myriad has appealed the ruling), it does have the potential to change the way in which life sciences companies may operate in the future.

Patents are the lifeblood of the biotechnology industry. Because of this, scientists, university technology transfer offices and many would be entrepreneurs have sought to patent any and all ideas, inventions and potential products that may serve as the basis for a life sciences community. This has resulted in the issuance of a surfeit of composition of matter patents for many human and non-human DNA sequences that encode potential industrial and therapeutic proteins.

Prior to the sequencing of the human genome, many scientists and entrepreneurs had compelling and legitimate arguments to patent newly discovered DNA sequences. While these sequences existed in nature prior to their discovery, their commercial potential could not be fully realized until the genes and their products were isolated and fully characterized which generally required many years of scientific study. In contrast, however, the advent of whole genome sequencing allows scientists, to easily identify genes and their products that are likely to have future commercial potential and value. Because this renders inventions that make use of the genes or proteins themselves obvious, composition of matter patents are no longer feasible or warranted. Also, while composition of matter patents may have been lucrative in the past, it is usually secondary process patents that extend the commercial lifecycle of protein-based drugs. For example, the composition of matter patent for recombinant erythropoietin (held by Amgen) expired in 2004. However, Amgen has recombinant erythropoietin process and production patents that preclude competition in the US until 2017.

While composition of matter patents may be important for therapeutic proteins, the same isn’t true for diagnostic products. In fact, composition of matter patents in this case (like Myriad Genetics patents for BRAC1 and BRACA2) tend to stifle innovation and create monopolies for the companies that own them. The elimination of composition of matter patents for DNA sequences will give scientists the requisite freedom to operate and necessary creativity to develop new tests and uses for novel genes and their products.

To that end, the diagnostic industry would be well served if it adopted the open source business model pioneered by the software industry. This has resulted in the creation and development of new products, commercial applications and business opportunities that have exceeded the expectations of the companies that developed the original code. I see no reason why the same approach couldn’t be used in the diagnostic and personalized medicine industries as they continue to mature.  After all, the human genome is the ultimate source code and allowing free and unfettered access to its contents will undoubtedly result in many innovative, useful and previously unimagined commercial scientific and healthcare advances in the future.

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics (KanGO), including University of Melbourne, ANU, WEHI, University of Sydney, University of UNSW and the Australian Genome Research Foundation (AGRF) announced today (yesterday in Oz) that they have built a framework to assemble the genome of a model kangaroo, the tammar wallaby.  DNA sequence data obtained by the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF) with funding from the Victorian government will be arranged using the genome map.

KanGO Director Prof. Jenny Graves said “Australia’s weird and wonderful animals are making crucial contributions. The kangaroo has helped to consolidate Australia’s reputation in this important genomics era,” More importantly the map and DNA sequence may open up new areas of research into how genes are turned on and off during development of all mammals.

Those Aussies…you gotta love ‘em!

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