14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers have known for quite some time that certain parts of the human body are more susceptible to being influenced by environmental changes than others, but the reason why this happens has thus far eluded them. In a new study, experts finally managed to come up with an answer to this riddle.
The investigation was led by a group of experts based at the Michigan State University (MSU). Through their efforts, the scientists may have set the basis for new methods of addressing a wide array of diseases, including type II diabetes.
MSU researchers use fruit flies in their experiments because the genes controlling their response to environmental changes are the same as in humans. In addition, it's easier to observe the small insects over many generations, since conducting such a study on humans would take centuries.
Details of the conclusions the team arrived at were published in a recent issue of the esteemed journal Proceedings of the Library of Science Genetics (PLSG). The researchers were led by MSU assistant zoology professor Alexander Shingleton.
He says that an interesting aspect he noticed in fruit flies is that some of the insects' body parts grow to full size even when the flies suffer from malnutrition. The same environment is also shunting the growth of other organs, which the team interprets as an adaptation to rough conditions.
“The developmental mechanisms by which these changes in body proportion are regulated are really unknown,” Shingleton says, adding that the human brain also develops to nearly full size when people suffer from malnutrition.
Detecting which parts of the human body are insensitive to such changes – as well as which are the most likely to be influenced – could allow researchers to start developing new treatments against maladies whose development is triggered by these very changes.
“If we know how we can control sensitivity to environmental issues such as malnutrition, we can, in principle, manipulate genes that are regulating that sensitivity. Genes can be activated so they can actually restore sensitivity,” the MSU team leader says.
The study could be useful in understanding why the human body becomes resistant to insulin in type II diabetes patients. What scientists do know is that the process is triggered by non-genetic factors, so identifying ways to prevent them from exerting their effects could have important implications for millions living with this disease today.
“Our job is to try to understand why some body parts are responsive to changes in nutrition and others aren’t,” Shingleton concludes.