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February 12, 2007 -- Worm’s Mutation Sheds Light On Lincoln
It’s been one of those days. There’s pressure at work, your place is a mess, your nerves are absolutely shattered. Well, not literally. Unless of course you’re a worm that has no beta spectrin. Scientists at the University of Utah recently discovered that mutant worms missing a protein called beta spectrin literally fracture their nerve cells when they move. The protein normally acts like a little molecular Slinky, keeping neurons flexible. And when it’s gone, the nerves can’t bend without breaking.
Aside from being bad news for worms, the finding could have relevance for people. Humans have four beta spectrin genes, and mutations in one of them leads to a debilitating disorder called spinocerebellar ataxia. The disease destroys the nerves responsible for movement, leading to a progressive loss of coordination. An interesting aside: historians wonder whether Abe Lincoln might have had the condition. His gait was sometimes described as “unsteady,” and a large percentage of his descendants carry the mutant spectrin gene. Incidentally, for those of you who enjoy history and language trivia, the word gene was derived from pangenesis, a word coined by Darwin, who shares a February 12th birthday with Abraham Lincoln.
