Symbiogenesis

A couple of weeks ago, I was in a room with privileged people - students, professors and researchers, listening to a talk which dealt with  the topic on Symbiogenesis. The speaker, Dr. Lynn Margulis,  was a not an ordinary person as she has been credited for the widely-accepted  endosymbiotic theory of the origin of eukaryotic cells. She is currently a distinguised professor in the department of geosciences at the University of Massachusets in Amherst.

It was about 6 years ago since I knew about Dr. Lynn Margulis. I was a member of a large delegation of biology professors from all over the US grading the 2006 Advanced Placement test in Biology (APBiology) in the University of Nebraska -Lincoln. No, she was not one of us. But her name always popped up in almost every page of the test booklets I read. The question was about the origin of the first eukaryotes and many students unnecessarily mentioned her as the proponent of the theory.

In that lecture, I paid particular attention on how she talked and how she relayed the wealth of information within a limited period of time in a presentation. For people like her, I thought,  are exceptional mortals and are endowed with the unique critical skill in weaving a major  scientific concept which makes it to the college textbook. And all I wanted was to emulate her wits and style.

Symbiogenesis, the merging of two entirely different organisms to form a new organism, is not really new. This idea was synthesized in the 1920s by a famous Russian botanist in a book titled Symbiogenesis: A New Principle of Evolution. Symbiogenesis was considered a major driving force in evolutionary biology along with Darwinian's natural selection. This treatise on symbiogenesis however, suffered the same fate as Gregor Mendel's theory of inheritance,  gathering dust in the library's bookselves over a long period of time as they were ignored by the scientific community. In just about a year ago, The Harvard University Press published a English Translation of the book where Lynn Margulis was one of the co-editors. The re-discovery of symbiogenesis has begun an exciting era in evolutionary research.

We share this planet with a gazillion of other living organisms. We share our bodies to tons and tons of other living organisms. Lice in our heads or pubes; worms inside our guts; fungi in between our toes, armpits and yeasts in the vagina; and of course the truckloads of bacteria and protozoans which call our intestines their abode, others invading every inch of our skin, eyes, nose, mouth and not to mention the genitalia. These are part of who we are. They make vitamins for us! They make us stinky! Many of the them form our normal biota where they offer themselves the 'military' protecting our bodies from invading 'alien' microorganisms.   

Similarly, in bodies of other organisms live tons and tons of living hitch-hikers.Symbiosis, the close association and coexistence of different forms of organisms, therefore has become the way of life. Symbiosis causes different consequences to the parties involved, parasites get 'fat', hosts nutrient-deprived, commensals mutually benefited. When the host becomes immunocompromised, the opportunistic pathogenic endosymbionts (those who live within our bodies)  are out there to defeat the host in a disease. In short, both the endo- and ecto-symbionts make our either bodies better or bitter.

Dr. Margulis used the sea slug, a close relative of the squids and octopuses, as one example that seems to exemplify the process of symbiogenesis. Many different species of sea slugs obtain defense structures, like the nematocysts from the deadly jellyfish, portuguese-man-of-war. Instead of being destroyed, these stinging cells are kept by the slugs for their own defense. There is a certain species of sea slugs which feeds voraciously on algae. Instead of being broken down as food, some algae stayed infact and remained functional within the animal body, as endosymbionts. The slug, which is shaped life a flat leaf, looks green because of the presence of the algae which carry on photosynthesis inside the slug body. So here is an animal that, through its of endosymbionts, is capable of photosynthesis. Examination of the eggs produced by the slug showed the presence of chloroplast genes in the cytoplasm. 

This could just be the tip of the iceberg. There could be many animals out there whose close contact and  strong association with other organisms, may result to the formation of an entirely different organism in the long run. In here, missing links will not be an issue. The scientist may just have to look closely which other organisms that are associated. And by looking at the different DNA fingerprints, the identity of these associated oganisms can be obtained  by blasting their DNA sequence with the extensive database that are available.

Here is a nature's way of making transgenic animals!

The Faces of Morality

A religious couple, who has been married for over ten years, patiently kept on trying to have a baby. When they were about to surrender their childlessness up to their god, the wife found out she was pregnant. That was the best news ever for the couple. As the wife's pregnancy  progressed, she noticed something seemed not right. She developed pregnancy-induced hypertension (preeclampsia) due to mother-fetus serologic incompatilbility, putting hers and the fetus' life in danger. Sonographic examination and amniocentesis reveal the fetus suffers lethal genetic malformation and the chance for  survival is very nil. The physician recommended for immediate termination of  pregnancy for her safety. The couple did not heed the physician's advice for they don't want to  murder their unborn child!

S. P. is an intelligent, outgoing, happy-go-lucky teenaged girl who simply enjoys life. She has a boyfriend her age. They love  hanging-out and chilling with other teens, their age. As many curious teens would do, they experiment on stuff like pot, alcohol and sex. S.P. got impregnated and was in a dilemma. She did not want to inform her parents about the pregnancy, and she certainly was not ready for the daunting responsibility of raising a child as a single mom. The boyfriend deserted her after finding out she got impregnated. S.P.  terminated the pregnancy! To her, it was the best thing to do!

To kill or not to kill? There are only two answers, neither is  right nor  wrong!

Morality is a very delicate yet a very subjective topic. Just like beauty, being moral (or immoral) lies in the eyes of the beholder! That's because there is not a single standard to measure morality. It is looked at differently by different groups of people.

This bring us to the question on what serves as the basis for morality For christians, morality stands on a solid ground rooted in the Bible. Any act done against or in contradiction with the doctrines of their church could be hailed immoral! The Mosaic Law provides a long list of Dos and Don'ts for christians to observe. But even among the different christian groups, people are divided as to what acts are considered immoral, which ones not! In the two cases presented earlier, is killing considered an immoral act? The ultraconservatives would say yes outrightly! For the act itself is in defiance of the Mosaic Law 'thou shall not kill.'  But killing people were rampant in the days of the bible just as the present days. Even god himself caused massive killing of people, the highest form of genocide, when Noah refused people to let them in in their ark during the Great Flood. Innocent babies were killed as consequence with the parents  not painting their  front doors with the sacrificial lamb's blood for the Passover!

The muslim religious extremists hold on to their belief that killing people who they consider as 'infidels' would merit them great rewards in the afterlife. What motivates a young and just-after-puberty suicide bomber to sacrifice his earthly life in killing people is the reward of being with 42 virgins in the afterlife! Killing is not regarded as immoral, in this case!

The non-believers got their system of calling morality. Being not under any church doctrines makes their notion of morality a little more pragmatic and more than philosophical.

Morality has been invented by man. Whatever it is based on, morality deals with what is the right thing to do! It is laced with elements of subjectivity. For there is no clear cut black- and- white in morality,  many things are in the gray zone.

I see the evolution of practical morality in the future. Where terminally-ill patience with nothing but hopelessness on top of their constant suffering  and excruciating pains can openly opt for physician-assisted end-of-life care without the fears and apprehensions of not going to heaven (for those who believe!) and with full support by their church. For doing so seems to be the right thing to do if only to make their sufferings a little less unbearable. Furthermore, I see a society that recognizes and embraces people's diversity. As it is now, morality digs that  deep and big gap which divides the people. Self-proclaimed moralists are easy to render judgments, and cause indignation among others.  Living in harmony seems to be the right to do, and that implies being tolerant instead of judgmental to others. This means respecting and accepting other people for who they are,  regardless of race, creed and belief systems, and most importantly, sexual orientation!

I see this coming! But probably not in my lifetime...



As the Earth's Land Area Is Shrinking

Global warming is blamed for the rising of sea water levels which sinks islands under water. Droughts and rampant forest denudation choked watershed areas and aquatifers  slowly killing the lakes, rivers and streams. More and more areas are slowly becoming deserts. With urbanization and industrialization, large areas of tractable lands are converted into residential areas,  developed into recreaction facilities or commercial establishments. These are causing the earth's land surface to keep on shrinking.

Food production hinges largely on how much land area is available to grow crops and raise animals. Menaced by the shrinking acreage of arable lands and the ever increasing demand for food due to the ever-increasing human population worldwide, scientists are left with the only option of producing more food within less available land. This was the major driving force in the so-called  'agricultural revolution'!

I could still remember, when  I was a young, farmers used to plant traditional varieties of rice in their fields. The rice grew tall, and the winds could easily knocked them down to the ground especially during the booting stage when the grains started to fill. This explained why traditional varieties yield way too low per acreage. In the 1970's, the International Rice Research Institute released new rice varieties, one of which was dubbed  the 'miracle' rice. The rice plants grew up to only knee high, and were resistant to shattering. Being stout and short, normally the plants were able to support the grains at booting until up to harvest. True to its name, a huge increase in yield,  amazingly up to 10 times, were enjoyed by the farmers.

Scientists have developed ways to close in the gap between food production and the increasing global demand for food. They developed genetic engineering or recombinant DNA, a tool which radically changed the way scientists develop new and superior varieties of plants and animals. This technique cuts short generation times needed in the conventional breeding methods. In a nutschell, through this technology, scientists can source out good genes from different plant or animals species, and have them pieced together in a new breed, just like a designer jean. These newly-designed plant or animal varieties will go to the farmers' field or ranch for mass production. A visit to the produce aisle in any huge grocery, one could easily admire the good-looking red, green and yellow bell peppers, huge bright red seedless watermelon, huge ears of freshly-picked sweet corn, and a wide variety of potatoes and tomatoes. Many of them are designer products, now known as 'genetically-modified' crops.

In addition to designing high yielding varieties of crop plants, agriculture is taking a second look at promoting 'hanging gardens'. Vertical structures are built,  on each side, layers of  horizontal 'plots' are planted with crops. Growing some vegetables hang upside down is another practice in consideration.

It's not only the planting of crops that is affected by the shrinkage of agricultural lands. Raising cattle, lamb or goat suffers the same fate as ranches and grazing lands get smaller. As such,  animal breeders came up with rather grain-feeding instead of mostly grazing kinds. In the news lately, a scientist is trying to grow meat in the laboratory. Cultured meat, anyone? Why not?

It has become common practice now using stem cells  to replace certain defective adult body part.s On the same premise, one scientist is using myoblasts, the embryonic stem cells which give rise to the muscles in the body, to start with his meat culture. Pork myoblast for pork, beef myoblast for beef, lamb myoblast for lamb. A beef myoblast made to grow around a T-shaped streak of osteoblast (the stem cells for making bones) , given the right mix of growth substances.... voila, a T-bone steak!  So why raise a whole cow when one needs only the meat? This is called tissue engineering!

Engineering has infiltrated and significantly re-designed the architectural lansdcape of  biological science. There is genetic engineering, protein engineering, food engineering, tissue engineering... Engineering will continue to adulterate the minds of biologists in response to the increasing challenge of life sustainability  amidst the different adversities.

An image in my crystal ball, I see  'green' humans and animals in the future. No, am not thinking about Shrek or the green-haired ompa lompas! Another brave-new-world scenario is predicted where humans and other animals are engineered to contain chlorophyll in their skins instead of or in addition to the usual melanin. This seems very interesting and, apparently, a win-win situation . Imagine, our body producing food through photosynthesis as we walk or jog under the morning sun! We won't go hungry then! Probably thirsty, as the body's demand for water may be doubled - in photosynthesis and perspiration!

A Tribute To A Dear Mother

'The future destiny of a child is always the work of the mother'
                                                                    ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

I love my nanay. She is one woman I adored a lot! She has all my respect and admiration. She is a no ordinary person. She is my mother!

I am so glad and privileged  having our great mother still with us in this mortal journey. Though kinda frail as the years keep taking some serious toll on her health, I could sense how proud she is watching  the family, she and my late father started, branching out. I am sure, with a sharp memory at her age, she could still keep track of her greatgrandchildren! She is a picture of a 'self-accomplished' woman, emulated by many as a 'mother like no other'. 

My nanay, though may be considered as 'uneducated' in today's standard,  is not an unintelligent person. She possesses a sharp vision (literally, after the removal her cataracts) which she shared with my father. That vision was for the future of her children, who were born into this earth with nothing but their parental love. To us her children, she was the beacon which carries the light as we  navigated through our waters in conquering ignorance and uncertainty. And today, she stands as our guiding post, a spring of inspiration as we  continue to walk though life with our respective families.

My nanay's bio may well be worth  making it through the story board of a tear-jerking movie. Born and raised by a single mother, she was orphaned at an early age. She was left under the care of an uncle until about her early teens and was later on moved to live with another uncle until she was 16. Her growing up years was characteristically arduous, and it did not get any better living during theWorld War II. These unwelcome predicaments though turned her into a strong woman as she developed tenacity and resilience - strengths which made her through life's difficulties and adversities.

She got married at age 16, after a whirlwind romance which ended up in an altar date in a war time. Just as she gained independence from her uncle's ward, her life transitioned into a more complicated one when they started a family. Babies came.. one, another one, then another one....after another one, ten total! In my present situation, I could not imagine raising ten kids, nurturing them to become responsible individuals, and  help securing for their future. They did. I came a little later in the family pipeline, six siblings before me. Life was not easy for me. Must be extremely difficult for my parents!

The abyssmal situation we're in could not bring down our family any further. When  one hits the rock bottom, there's no other way but up!   Nanay went through a kind of life she did not want us to experience. This was her vision,  one which she shared and worked out along with our father. Not an easy one! Hardships, sacrifices, sweat, tears and ,yes,  tons of persistence and resilience- these spiced up the road our family trekked. To many, it is a road less traveled. If anyone in our family lacked the strength and the tenacity to endure, one could've broken loose and be bound to continual poverty.  And we could have not done it all without the generosity of so many people who believed in my parents' vision and did see our strong determination to succeed.

Truth to reckon, our nanay's earthly journey is like a late afternoon sun. Sooner or later, sunset will come. I find it so rewarding having her with us until this time. I know she's rightfully seated on the pinnacle of her life. The bittersweet memories of the arduously tortuous good-old-days in her ascent to the summit are awe-inspiring. We draw so much inspiration from them, and we are always proud to share them with anybody.

To my dear nanay, this one is for you as you welcome and celebrate another year of your life! Yours is a life well-lived! Happy Birthday!!

Signs Of The Time

Just very lately, birds falling from the skies in Beebe, Arkansas just about after new year's day was first reported. Then similar cases of astonishing birds dying and falling were reported in Louisiana, spreading to Kentucy, Texas and even about halfway across the globe, in Sweden  and Italy, and reportedly  somewhere over in Australia. This mysterious incidence of birds kill, dubbed as 'aflockalypse', puzzled biologists and ornithologists. At about the same time, massive tilapia fish kill  (about 150 tons) was reported in Vietnam and about 40,000 crabs were washed up in the shorelines of England!

Incidents of massive death (i.e fish kills, bird falling) did occur in the past. Scientists thought that 'trauma caused by fireworks' during the new years eve revelry or damage due to 'high-altitude hail', among others, may be the culprit. The search for the explanation for these incidence, however, is far from over. However, some people out there, among them the 'self-proclaimed prophets' are quick to say that these mysterious events are few indicators of the second coming of the Lord. One 'prophet' boldly said that the death of the birds is caused by the current repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) policy in the military which displeased the Lord.

In Australia, a massive flooding in areas as big as the state of Texas, has caused deaths and extensive damage to the area. Power supplies were out and communication system knocked out in some areas. Strong water currents brought down bridges, washing away sidewalks and kept people isolated. Severe flooding was also reported in  Bangladesh. Here at home, monstrous snowstorms came one after the other, causing power outages in area where snow accumulated to massive amounts that knocked down power lines and caused loss of some lives.

It would be a small wonder that these events could be attributed as one of the signs of the time.

Several reasons could be cited to possibly cause deaths of birds - bad weather, high tension line collisions, electrocutions, diseases caused by parasite infestation or bacterial infection to name a few. Indeed, this could be a sign of the time. That natural selection is going on, as it has been since life begun.

Cataclysmic events are part of the daily affairs of the earth. Vocanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes and, yes, floodings. The increasing global climate is thought to be the major trigger of the flooding And scientists warn that this could just be a prelude to the future. Natural calamities are one  set of agents that can, likewise, lead to natural selection.

Viewed from either the mystical or the natural vantage points, these events can be considerably argued as signs of the times. To me, they represent part of the continuing process of natural selection, which is the major driving force of evolution!

As the Years Keep Coming

I came into this earth filled with nothing. Completely unclothed, unlearned, helpless! Also, completely dependent on other people.  All through the past 50 years of my life, I learned to live as the years kept coming. I learned that life is not fair. Life is, at times, a wonderful and beautiful bliss. Other times, it is filled with brazen and ruthless indignations. 'Life is what we make it', a friend told me when, at one time, I was wallowing in self pity. True, indeed! But not all the time. Historically, life endured catastrophes of seismic proportions before humans walked on the face of this planet. And the string of cataclysmic events will continue the daunting task of natural selection, either they are nature's unwelcome wrath or as consequence of human's rampant and selfish indiscretions.

So while there was no instruction manual that came with my birth, I learned to live my life, thanks to the evolution of parental instinct - the care of the young. I know my parents would hate me and label me  ingrate for equating the attention and the love they showered upon me to instinct. For it is all instinct, only an exaggerated type!

And then cultures and traditions evolved, becoming more complex with  human evolution. Their origins were quite ambiguous. Many of them based on early human imaginings and perceptions about what, later on, seemed to be ordinary events in nature. Some of them are evolutionary legacy bequeathed by those who came before us. Deities, superstitions, myths all popular in the not-so-distant past have continued to contaminate some of the cultures and traditions that were handed down to our present generation. There is an apparent admixture of  truths, half-truths and myths in the social environment I grew up. I must admit, with a brain like an empty memory computer, my brain took all of what'd been fed on me  as truths - sinker, hook and line. No questions asked. By then, my cerebral cortex was not completely ready to sort out those that make sense from those that don't! And these endlessly continued to inundate my innocent brain as the years kept coming.

Belief systems are part of the traditions humans continue to hold. There is a parade of gods listed in the Roman and Greek mythology books. Fancy celebrations were held and lavish offerings were offered to honor their sacredness. And there is the God of the bible, Allah of the Qu'ran, or some Higher Beings in other religions. Growing up, I started to grasp faith, to a point that I grappled to it so tightly,  and into believing that God is the great provider of everything! There was a time I was deeply indoctrinated that I felt the inner peace and harmony within myself. Ahh the god gene at work! Heaven on earth! But that was ephemeral. My brain, later, was engaged in some higher order functions and questions started queuing up. Time has come to pass the ' faith does not give answers but it just stops me from asking questions' mode.  And I can no longer take the 'God works in mysterious ways' end of it.

Logic and critical thinking, two attributes that positioned man on top of the animal kingdom. Two mental faculties that emancipated man from the empowering clout of ignorance. I hate to say this but I am inclined to believe that 'Ignorance of nature gave birth to gods. The knowledge of nature is calculated to destroy them'. For a long time, the Catholic Church advocated the earth-centered universe, that the earth is only about 10,000 years old, that the species is immutable. Things have changed. Science has provided and will continue to provide logical expanations to events in nature,  events used  to be considered mysterious in the past. Mysterious events may continue to appear or be reported but that does not mean they really are mysterious. For nature is light years away ahead of the human intellect. And so, the explanations will come in due time. Long before scientists were able to combine genes from different species, nature was already engaged in genetic engineering! With the loads of new information endlessly surfacing, I thought I need to re-examine my faith and the belief system I am in. And this I will do as the years  keep coming.

Goodbye 2010 and Welcome 2011!

Two thousand ten (2010) has just faded to history. Here I am, trying to bring back to mind the highlights of the year gone by and how it influenced, in anyway, my life, socially, spiritually,  and professionally. It is kinda hard to remember the events as they unfolded, especially if each day just seemed to be not unlike any other passing day.

Thanks to social networking apps like facebook, I got the chance to reconnect with a lot of people- relatives, former students, former classmates and friends from the world over. It feels great to get some updates from them, after years of temporal separation. Nothing was even sweeter than the opportunity to visit my younger sister and her family in Toronto, Canada, after eleven long years. In Toronto, I met new relatives who were warm and gracious. I also got the chance to visit few old friends. I accompanied my wife to her faculty development meeting in San Diego, CA.  While in there, I got the chance to visit fellow Plaridelians around the area, met their extended families, and experienced their warm hospitality. More hometown (Plaridelian) friends we were connected to when my family spent the Christmas holidays in Houston. Our visit with them was very pleasant and memorable as we made more friends in the parties we went to. In addition, we got the chance to swing by a family in Houston we knew so well back to my post-doc days in Kansas State University. Of course, our facebook friends list gets longer. Late this year, when I was about to turn 50, I developed strong interest in blogging. Blogging has become an outlet for me to express opinions, all of my own. I looked forward to having a blog published every week.

My spiritual life took a topsy-turvy turn as the year was unfolding. As it seems now, my belief system is sitting on a shaky ground. Recently, I've been reading the atheist's views as I have been in continuous search of the rationality of faith and reason. I know this sounds eccentric and weird. My take is... as I get older, I become more inclined in the mechanistic rather than vitalistic point of view of things. All through the years, I've fed myself enough with information related to spirituality. Now is the time to explore the other side. Many things just don't make sense. And these are just  left to 'the god of the gap' to be a piece and at peace with sense and sensibility. Being informed requires a second look at things (practices, beliefs, etc) that have been held for a long time. The powerful human intellect has unearthed volumes of novel  information which never existed when traditional belief systems flourished back to the days. It gives new meaning to the saying 'examine your conscience'.

On the professional note, 2010 was a highly productive year for me as a teacher. Two semesters and two summer sessions of teaching gave me the opportunity to reach out and mentor to about 300 sudents. Teaching as a job is a lifetime vocation. It requires being abreast knowing the tricks of dealing effectively with the millennials. As such, I was privileged to attend a professional development on teaching excellence and leadership. I find it quite delightful and gratifying  as a teacher, to be able to inspire a few students among so many who just want to get  high grades without exerting some efforts on their part. And I get this clue when these few students wish to take more of my classes and from the rumors that spread around the  campus student world. Of course, I take so much pride hearing from my students from the not-so-distant past,  some now famed medical doctors, college professors, high school teachers, or somebody respected in their chosen professions - all telling me I was a bit part, no matter how small, of who they are now. From them I draw the inspiration which energizes my proclivity to continue to teach and inspire few students at a time.

Overall, 2010 was a wonderful year! 

I am person of the present. I take lessons from yesterday to make my today a little better. I could care less about the details for  tomorrow. For no one knows what the future holds. 

For 2011, I will just embrace what each day brings...

Happy New Year everyone!