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Newly discovered gene network may help repair and protect teeth
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Cichlids have helped GA Tech researchers discover the genes for tooth development.
Several months ago, Georgia Tech scientist Todd Streelman, PhD and a team of researchers published a study on their discovery of a base list of molecules needed to make a tooth in Cichlid fishes.
In their article, which was published in the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology, the biologists say they have mapped out a series of genes that were likely responsible for the early beginnings of tooth growth in Cichlids over 500 million years ago.
“To truly understand any part of the body, you must know how it was originally designed,” said Dr. Streelman. And that’s exactly what scientists at Georgia Tech hope to do, with the support of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). By mapping out these archaic networks of molecules, biomedical researchers hope that it can one day be applied to human patients in dentist offices everywhere.
As is common with many types of fish (sharks being the most popular example), Cichlids are able to grow, lose, and replace teeth throughout their lives. Through the millennia, mammals, in general, have lost this ability, but now that the gene networks are believed to be known, it may be possible to one day manipulate them for dental benefit.
Though this sounds promising, the kind of breakthrough this discovery could lead to is likely far in the future. However, the research team at Georgia Tech is hopeful; according to Dr. Streelman, “this gene network provides a nice evolutionary clue on how best to proceed.”
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