Veterinary Considerations for the Theoretical Resurrection of Extinct Species

The de-extinction of the dinosaur is a dubious possibility but its consideration brings forth some issues that are at least worthy of scientific discussion. In this review, we discuss two distinct issues that have implications for a de-extinct species such as a dinosaur: the ability, or lack thereof, to safely sedate a rare and potentially fractious animal capable of harming the veterinary staff tasked with its care; and, disease risks associated with a species that has been extinct for millions of years. To identify potential sedatives, comparative pharmacology will be needed to uncover the links between receptor pharmacology and the desired clinical outcomes of activating established alpha-2 adrenergic, opioid, and benzodiazepine receptors. Specific to disease control, it will be necessary to understand the unique susceptibility of the new species to current diseases as well as predicting their reservoir capacity for potential human and veterinary pandemic diseases. While the topics presented herein are not exhaustive, this review highlights some of the foremost research that should be conducted in order to serve the unique veterinary needs of a de-extinct species using the dinosaur as a paradigm. Addressing these issues should be considered if an intact dinosaur genome becomes available, regardless of the feasibility of dinosaur resurrection

Theoretical Engineering of the Gut Micro biome for the Purpose of Creating Superior Soldiers

The purpose of this review is to highlight research raising the possibility of exploiting the host-microbiome gut axis for military purposes. Through optimizing the gut-microbiome environment it is possible to enhance nutritional access to indigestible material, provide local and systemic analgesia, enhance psychological robustness to battlefield stress, produce endogenous steroids, reduce muscle fatigue, and promote peripheral wound healing. However, this approach is still in its early stages and thus has not been explored to its full potential. The challenges that are currently preventing the practical use of gut bacteria include the following: inconsistency of clinical outcomes, transient effects requiring continuous supplementation, the type of regimen selected, the initiation and cessation of regimen, and the broader clinical studies needed to validate this research. This review is intended to shed light on the numerous and varied positive impacts such an approach could have for the military if further developed

Characterizing the in vivo functions of Cyfip1 in the development of cardiovascular, hematopoietic, and nervous systems by precise targeted genome editing in zebrafish

Actin cytoskeleton is the most abundant and crucial protein in most eukaryotic cells, involving a broad range of essential cellular processes. The major regulator for actin dynamics is the WAVE regulatory complex (WRC). The activation and function of the WRC is governed through its own subunit called Cyfip. In vertebrates, there are two Cyfip isoforms, Cyfip1 and Cyfip2, which have been shown to have different expression patterns and distinct functions in various biological systems. However, there is a limited understanding of the in vivo functions of Cyfip proteins in animals, especially in vertebrates. With the development of CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing technologies and zebrafish as a vertebrate model organism, we have established cyfip1 and cyfip2 knockout mutant in zebrafish using a newly developed and efficient CRISPR/Cas9-based short homology targeted integration strategy named GeneWeld. Together with a novel gene inactivation method called pPRISM-Stop vector, we explored the in vivo functions of each Cyfip isoform in various biological systems, including cardiovascular, hematopoietic, retinotectal, and spinal motor nervous systems. With the high efficiency of the GeneWeld method for precise targeted integration of pPRISM-Stop cassette into each cyfip locus, we were able to recover cyfip1 and cyfip2 germline transmitting adults with on-target integration with frequencies at 13% for both cyfip loci (3/24 for cyfip1 and 2/16 for cyfip2). Despite an unexpected integration of the vector backbone into cyfip2 locus uncovered later, we were able to successfully establish stable lines of true cyfip1 knockout mutant to investigate the phenotypes from its homozygous deletion. Intriguingly, we discovered that cyfip1 abolishment during early stage of development led to mismigration or stalled development of endothelial cells and stenotic vessels accompanied by disrupted blood circulation, substantial reduction of the HSPCs in various hematopoietic tissues, as well as aberrant axon branching and abnormal axon terminals. Taken together, our study demonstrated efficient targeted integration at zebrafish cyfip1 locus using CRISPR/Cas9 short homology targeted GeneWeld strategy and pPRISM-Stop-mediated gene inactivation method to establish, for the first time, stable cyfip1 knockout mutant zebrafish lines to analyze cyfip1 knockout phenotypes and characterize the in vivo functions of cyfip1 in cardiovascular, hematopoietic, retinotectal and spinal motor nervous systems. Although additional samples and further analysis is necessary to make final conclusions, the pronounced morphological and microscopic phenotypes discovered in this study suggested the promising essential in vivo functions of cyfip1 in the development of cardiovascular, hematopoietic, retinotectal, and spinal motor nervous systems, which worth investigating more profoundly to fully characterize the in vivo functions and identify molecular mechanisms of cyfip1, and the WRC-mediated actin remodeling, in these physiological systems

Veterinary Considerations for the Theoretical Resurrection of Extinct Species

The de-extinction of the dinosaur is a dubious possibility but its consideration brings forth some issues that are at least worthy of scientific discussion. In this review, we discuss two distinct issues that have implications for a de-extinct species such as a dinosaur: the ability, or lack thereof, to safely sedate a rare and potentially fractious animal capable of harming the veterinary staff tasked with its care; and, disease risks associated with a species that has been extinct for millions of years. To identify potential sedatives, comparative pharmacology will be needed to uncover the links between receptor pharmacology and the desired clinical outcomes of activating established alpha-2 adrenergic, opioid, and benzodiazepine receptors. Specific to disease control, it will be necessary to understand the unique susceptibility of the new species to current diseases as well as predicting their reservoir capacity for potential human and veterinary pandemic diseases. While the topics presented herein are not exhaustive, this review highlights some of the foremost research that should be conducted in order to serve the unique veterinary needs of a de-extinct species using the dinosaur as a paradigm. Addressing these issues should be considered if an intact dinosaur genome becomes available, regardless of the feasibility of dinosaur resurrection.This article is published as Feye KM, Smith JS, Sebbag L, Hohman AE, Acharya S, Schneider BK, Tucker JT, Cherep LA, Nordeng BR, Richardson AL, Gage MC, Luo D, Shrestha D, Izbicki P, Malovic E, Jefferson MA, Manne S, Jaisil P, Kondru NC, Massey N, Klinedinst BS, and Carlson SA. "Veterinary Considerations for the Theoretical Resurrection of Extinct Species." Journal of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry 6, no. 3 (2018): 306. Posted with permission.</p

Theoretical Engineering of the Gut Micro biome for the Purpose of Creating Superior Soldiers

The purpose of this review is to highlight research raising the possibility of exploiting the host-microbiome gut axis for military purposes. Through optimizing the gut-microbiome environment it is possible to enhance nutritional access to indigestible material, provide local and systemic analgesia, enhance psychological robustness to battlefield stress, produce endogenous steroids, reduce muscle fatigue, and promote peripheral wound healing. However, this approach is still in its early stages and thus has not been explored to its full potential. The challenges that are currently preventing the practical use of gut bacteria include the following: inconsistency of clinical outcomes, transient effects requiring continuous supplementation, the type of regimen selected, the initiation and cessation of regimen, and the broader clinical studies needed to validate this research. This review is intended to shed light on the numerous and varied positive impacts such an approach could have for the military if further developed.This article is published as Schmidt-McCormack, Garrett R, Kristina M Feye, Sreemoyee Acharya, Gregory SA Mlynarczyk, Stephen J Anderson, Patricia Izbicki, Emir Malovic, KC Luna, Joe S Smith, Matthew A Jefferson, Aron Nakama, Kasandra Diaz Santana, Naveen C Kondru, Michael D Kleinhenz, James G Tipton, Shivani Choudhary, Robyn D Kokemuller, Sireesha Manne, Marson R Putra, Nyzil Massey, Denusha Shrestha, Diou Luo, Shaunik Sharma, Pongrat Jaisil, Carrie A Berg, and Steve A Carlson. "Theoretical Engineering of the Gut Micro biome for the Purpose of Creating Superior Soldiers." Research & Reviews: Journal of Medical and Health Sciences 6, no. 2 (2017): 12-18. Posted with permission.</p