Good News, and Old News, about HIV

There were several important announcements in the HIV/AIDS battle this week. First was the awarding of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine to two French virologists,Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, for discovering that the HIV virus causes AIDS. The side story here is the controversy that the American scientist Robert Gallo is credited by some as being the "first" to discover the virus. "First" is very important to scientists, therefore, there have been some pretty heated exchanges between Montagnier and Gallo in the past. If you are interested in some good drama, there are some decent books out there on the subject, including opposing views written by both Gallo and Montagnier.




The Nobel committee has attempted to end the dispute by announcing that Montagnier was the discoverer, a fact that is widely accepted by the scientific community, but given that there is no love lost between the Americans and the French, it is doubtful that this will die down soon.

The second announcement was that the HIV virus is probably much older than we originally thought. A discovery at the University of Arizona by Dr. Michael Worobey backs the date that the virus jumped from chimps to humans sometime around 1900 - at least 30 years earlier than originally thought.

This should not be treated as some sort of background story. In fact, it is probably the most important, and under-reported, story of the week. If you take a look at the map from the CDC below, you can see that the AIDS pandemic is showing no signs of abating.



By understanding when the virus actually made the jump from chimps to humans, we can get a better grasp on its rate of evolution. One of the biggest obstacles to the development of effective HIV vaccines has been the rapid mutation rate of the virus. As a virus mutates, it evolves, or changes, its associated proteins. Vaccines frequently target the unique proteins on the surface of a virus. Without an understanding of how this virus is continuing to evolve, the development of a vaccine could actually create more harm than good, since vaccinated people may feel that they are "safe" and can return to unsafe sexual practices and other risky behaviors. Worobey's work should provide some important insight into how HIV evolves. We should be seeing some interesting developments in the near future stemming from this discovery.

Nondisclosure Agreements for First Dates

Michael Creighton's latest thriller, Next, presents all sorts of what-if scenarios for the genetic community. While most of us will not have to deal with foul-mouthed orangutans or smart-ass parrots, a recent report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that there may be a genetic factor contributing to fear of commitment in males. As reported today by the BBC ("Commitment phobes can blame genes", Sept 2, 2008), this gene is called AVPR1A. Males with a certain allele for this gene (allele 334)have an aversion to commitment, and are less likely to have happy, fulfilled marriages.

Maybe this is not a surprise...but it could be a problem for some males. In a Creighton-world scenario, a male goes out for a date with an attractive women. As he excuses himself to go use the restroom, the woman quietly swabs the inside of his glass, removing a few epithelial cells. She then sends these off to a genetic screening lab where she finds out that the male possesses two copies of AVPR1A allele 334. The next day she ends the relationship and then publishes his name on her blog to warn her friends that he is a hopeless cause. If you think that these tests do not exist - click here.

Why would she do this? Because there are evolutionary differences between the ways that men and women view relationships. Like it or not, in the animal kingdom (to which humans belong), women often form long-term relationships for the purpose of rearing young. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to seek multiple, short-term relationships. So back to humans.... why should the female invest valuable time and energy in a relationship that is genetically bound for failure? No longer do women have to contemplate whether he will "change" - the genetic evidence will tell them. Anyone else hear warning sirens?


So guys, the next time you go out on that first date, make sure that you have your partner sign a non-disclosure agreement stating that any genetic information that she obtains as a result of your date is to remain your legal property unless you consent to its release. Of course, that type of conversation will probably also stop you from getting a second date, but at least your little genetic secret may remain private.

Men: The Next Endangered Species?

Men, have you recently had one of those feelings that something was not exactly right? A sense of impending doom? An uneasiness with the state of the world? While it was not exactly front-page news, an article by Nick Lane in the June 7^th issue of New Scientist (One Baby, Two Moms) should have all men worried. Lane’s article has to do with the generation of a embryonic cell that is basically a hybrid of three parents. The purpose was to transfer mitochondria from one cell to another to potentially prevent disease. The implications for men in general may be much more severe.

Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells. These small internal compartments are where your body converts food, usually carbohydrates, into the energy that runs all cellular processes. They use lots of oxygen in the process. In fact, if it wasn’t for mitochondria, the oxygen that you breathe would be lethal.

Mitochondria are interesting for several other reasons. One is the fact that they really don’t belong to us. If you take a good look at the genetics of the mitochondria you will quickly discover that they closely resemble those of the bacteria. The mitochondrial chromosome is circular, just like those of a bacterium, and the structure of the genes on the chromosome is very similar as well. Creationists absolutely hate mitochondria since they provide strong evidence of a major evolutionary event (over 600 million years ago) in the formation of modern cells. Each of our cells contains the remnants of a bacterial infestation hundreds of millions of years ago. But that fact has very little to do with the extinction of males.

What is more important is that we get our mitochondria from our mother. When a sperm cell fertilizes an egg, only the mitochondria in the egg survive. Thus, the mitochondria in my cells are all derived from my mother, who in turn got them from her mother, etc, etc. In fact, our mitochondria provide a history of our heritage. (For excellent coverage of this topic, read Brian Sykes book The Seven Daughters of Eve). But there is a flaw in this process. If there is a defect in a woman’s mitochondria, then she will pass that defect on to her offspring. Since the male doesn’t contribute mitochondria, then there is no chance of getting a “normal” mitochondria from the male. Mitochondria disorders are associated with a number of neurological disorders. Women with a history of these disorders have always been concerned about reproduction.

To bypass this problem, scientists have recently developed a procedure to produce embryos from three parents – two females and one male. This process allows a woman with a known mitochondrial disorder to produce a healthy embryo by using her DNA, mitochondria from another woman, and DNA from a man. The result is a child with the same genetic make-up as would be produced by any normal fertilization event between a man and a woman, but minus the mitochondrial disorder.

Sounds good right? Well, what this has done is place us one step closer to the ability to combine two eggs to produce an embryo. And once that happens men, there will be little reason to keep us around anymore.

Females reproducing without males is nothing new to the animal world. There are several species can either reproduce without males (called parthenogenesis). But until recently, it appeared that males were absolutely necessary for reproduction in mammals. There are several important genetic reasons for this, and the information in Nick Lane’s article does not necessarily indicate that men are doomed – yet. But it does indicate that scientists have overcome another hurdle in their ability to manipulate cells. Soon, perhaps sooner than we think, it will be possible to merge two eggs to form a zygote.

With the news being presented in this article, men are one step closer to joining the dodo bird and passenger pigeons. Author Bryan Sykes has already foretold this in another of his books - Adam’s Curse: A Future Without Men. This should be required reading for all men. For now we are one step closer to that reality. And if the guy at the top of this post is an endangered species…..men in general are doomed.