Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on TwitterBe a Facebook FanTumble us!
 

Posted on July 18, 2010 | tags

 
 

Tech: Whoa: Are the roots of human sperm 600 million years old?

  • So, yeah, that’s kinda old, guys. Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine recently released a new study noting that the genetic secret sauce in human sperm, a gene named Boule, is apparently so important that it’s found in nearly all animals – something not confirmed before the study. “Our findings also show that humans, despite how complex we are, across the evolutionary lines all the way to flies, which are very simple, still have one fundamental element that’s shared,” said Eugene Xu, author of the study published in the latest issue of PLoS Genetics. So, why are they researching it? Well, they’re trying to get to the root of male infertility; Boule would be important to target for such a drug. Neat. source