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THE QUESTION. “But whether it is possible to make a virus with malicious DNA sequences that could, once transcribed into bits, exploit those vulnerabilities, remains to be seen.” http://www.pcworld.com/article/252103/computer_viruses_could_cross_frontier_into_biological_realm_researchers_say.html View in LinkedIn

SLIPPERY SLOPE. “The frontier between the digital and the biological world is already blurring, the researchers said, citing cybernetic prosthesis as a good example. Some people have several electronic devices in their body, such as pacemakers, deep brain stimulators, and cochlear implants.” http://www.pcworld.com/article/252103/computer_viruses_could_cross_frontier_into_biological_realm_researchers_say.html View in LinkedIn

DIGITAL GENE POOL. “In 2002, scientists were able to synthesize the poliovirus. Since then, biotechnology has moved on, making it possible to synthesize bacteria, and organisms are genetically modified almost every day, the researchers said. In addition, all the code for synthetic DNA is stored on computers.” http://www.pcworld.com/article/252103/computer_viruses_could_cross_frontier_into_biological_realm_researchers_say.html View in LinkedIn

MORE PROVOCATIVE. “Could Human and Computer Viruses Merge, Leaving Both Realms Vulnerable? Gasson, a cybernetics scientist at the University of Reading, was walking around with an implanted microchip he had intentionally infected with a computer virus. If he got too close to a computer, he could in principle infect that machine.” http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/could-human-and-computer-viruses-merge-leaving-both-realms-vulnerable/ View in LinkedIn

VIVID CELLULAR COMMUNICATION. “Intensive gamete crosstalk takes place and, after a process involving recognition, sperm activation, and adhesion of plasma membranes, both gamete pairs fuse (plasmogamy) and sperm contents are released inside female gametes.” http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674205214608996 View in LinkedIn

FEMALE TISSUES COME ALIVE. “Thus, in contrast to the handful of gene expression changes during hydration, a very large number of gene expression changes occur when pollen tubes grow through pistil tissues. For example, over 1000 genes had significantly different expression in comparisons between semi-in vivo-grown pollen tubes and dry pollen, and a similar number after 4-h pollen tube growth; expression of a unique set of 383 pollen tube-expressed proteins present in pistil-interacted pollen tubes were identified.” http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674205214608996 View in LinkedIn

GENES LIGHT UP. “Transcriptomic analyses have recently revealed an unsurpassed level of complex gene regulation relating to pollen–pistil interactions. Microarray analysis revealed that the transcriptome of Arabidopsis pollen tubes that have grown through pistil tissues using a semi-in vivo pollen tube growth system is significantly distinct from transcriptomes of pollen grains or pollen tubes grown in vitro, and implicate de novo gene expression in pollen tubes due to interactions with the female tissues.” http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674205214608996 View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues from last weekend and concludes this weekend on the theme of double fertilization in flowering plants (Angiosperms). It is an impressively complicated way to reproduce. One interpretation of the why, is that during evolution, various hybrid forms are stitched together, and the survivors are not always efficient, but represent combinations and work-arounds that were just compatible enough to survive. Nature and perfection are not the same thing; she is usually composed of bizarre genetic meldings from disparate beasts glued together by happenstance. View in LinkedIn

“BIO-CRIME today is akin to computer crime in the early 1980s. Few initially recognized the problem, but one need only observe how the threat grew exponentially over time." http://www.computerworld.com/article/2471716/healthcare-it/dna-hackers--synthetic-biology-weaponized-virus--zero-day-exploit-to-infect-your-brain.html View in LinkedIn

GENE HACKING. “If DNA becomes the next big hacking frontier, it would open a plethora of "Pandora's Box problems.” http://www.computerworld.com/article/2471716/healthcare-it/dna-hackers--synthetic-biology-weaponized-virus--zero-day-exploit-to-infect-your-brain.html View in LinkedIn