Who do you love more… mom (species 1) or dad (species 2)?

The latest blockbuster ‘Jurassic World’ brings to our theaters a hybrid dinosaur. In their quest for the most terrifying creature ever, the movie’s ‘scientists’ combine traits of different dinosaur species to create the ultimate predator, which turns out to be big, insatiable… and intelligent. Quite obviously, the movie goes far beyond the state of the art of genetic engineering. That said, hybrids actually can be found everywhere in the real world. And some of them are ‘designed’ by us.

A hybrid is an individual that results from the combination of genomes of different species. Mankind has been raising hybrids from old, by controlled pairings of animals and plants to obtain desired traits in crops and cattle. For example, farmers have long been using mules (the hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a mare) to help laboring the fields, and lots of fruits, cereal crops and garden trees are hybrids selected by us to better suit our needs. Have you ever eaten frog legs? Yes, you’re right! Edible frogs are hybrids too.

Here in the Iberian Peninsula, we also have hybrid frogs. When an Iberian green waterfrog, or  Pérez’s frog (Pelophylax perezi) mates with an individual of other European species (P. ridibundus), a hybrid is formed: Pelophylax klepton grafi.  These three species together compose a hybridogenetic complex. This is because ADN of hybrid frogs contains 50% of each parental species but, amazingly, the eggs or sperm they produce contain exclusively P. ridibundus DNA. They can thus perpetuate a hybrid lineage just by mating with another P. perezi (see figure). If you think about it, they are certainly a mixture of two species but, when they mate, they genetically mimic just one of the parentals, so they perform as a ‘sexual parasite’ for the other parental species. That’s why they are called ‘klepton’ (from Greek, ‘robber’).

Example of the origin and perpetuation of a hybridogenetic lineage of Pelophylax klepton grafi. Matings may involve different sexes of each species than those in the figure. Note that, although adult hybrids are RP (2n chromosomes, half of them are from P. perezi and the other half are from P. ridibundus), they only produce R gametes, thereby discarding the whole P. perezi chromosome dotation in their germinal line. 

When hybrid frogs enter the ecosystem, they may outperform parental species, potentially leading them to extinction. Therefore, understanding the processes of hybridization and delineation of ranges of parental species and contact zones is critical for the conservation of involved species. This is challenging because all these species look extremely alike, and thus morphological identification is very difficult. For this reason, molecular tools are necessary to solve biological questions involving hybridization in water frogs.

A group of researchers from the University of Navarra, the Natural History Museum of Madrid and the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC) are developing sets of molecular tools to answer questions such as: ‘What is the distribution range of P. kl. grafi? Did this hybrid klepton originate naturally or as a result of human introductions? Can hybrids mate themselves and produce P. ridibundus offspring? Is the klepton displacing native P. perezi? These genetic markers have proven useful to distinguish among the three species within the complex and, by using them, we can assess the genetic variability of individuals to trace the history of hybrid lineages and solve these and other key issues.

So don’t panic in the theater. If a mad hybrid threatens you, we’ll be ready for it… as long as it is a frog!

Gregorio Sánchez-Montes

PhD Student

Department of Environmental Biology, University of Navarra

The Nano world…can you see it?

New revolutionary airplanes are made of nanocomposites, new cancer treatments use nanocarriers, new hydration creams use nanocapsules to keep you hydrated 24h and nanofibers are changing the clothes we wear. Furthermore, in the food industry nanoparticles in the packaging protect the contents longer from bacteria and degradation. Making planes lighter and stronger, drugs more target-specific, food with less preservatives, new generation cosmetics and smart packaging have one thing in common that is changing our lives: Nanotechnology.

[1] Serra‐Gómez R, Gonzalez-Gaitano G, González-Benito J. Composites based on EVA and barium titanate submicrometric particles: Preparation by high‐energy ball milling and characterization. Polym Compos 2012;33:1549–56.

Cannabinoids: a new frontier for the treatment of Parkinson´s disease

The first evidences about the use of cannabis arise from the second millennium BC, when Assyrians used cannabis or, as they called it, “the drug that takes away the mind” for its psychoactive, mind-altering effects and for its medical properties. Since it was brought to the western world in the 18^th century, its use has been a source of controversy. Surprisingly, research on cannabis has advanced slowly. The major reason was the lack of knowledge about its basic chemistry. Unlike morphine and cocaine, which were isolated and used for research since the 19^th century,  the chemical structures of the psychoactive constituents of cannabis were not isolated until the 1960s. There are over 400 chemicals in cannabis, 80 of them unique to this plant. The exact chemical composition differs between plant species, the parts of the plant and growing conditions. Once the chemistry of the plant was elucidated and the psychoactive molecules identified, it was possible to find the bases of the endocannabinoid system, which is particularly relevant to functions associated with the central nervous system such as pain, mood or apetite. The elements of the endocannabinoid system are highly expressed in brain structures related to movement control, suggesting that they could also be involved in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

Listen to the herd

“Collective fear stimulates herd instinct”, said Bertrand Russell, and as a matter of fact, even when our teachers or our parents try to teach us differently, there are some situations  that make us all act like one sheep in the herd. However, being so similar can bring us some benefits. But how?

Chemical archaeology to study our heritage?

What materials are the most frequently employed for creating artworks? What were the pigments and pictorial techniques employed by painting masters? Is it possible to analyse human evolution and the history of technology from artworks’ studies? Could you detect art forgeries? These are just some of the questions that you could answer thanks to the scientific study of artworks. 

When the Tenebrionind´s played evolution

 Maybe you are not interested in beetles. Most probably you´ve never considered what their role in this planet is. Perhaps, when someone talks about evolution you just turn your eyes to the sky and start thinking of Darwin, great apes and how it is all connected. But nature has a strange way of playing its cards and sometimes the smallest and most unknown little animal can open a new spectrum of research and of the future.

By Moongateclimber (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Unravelling the evolution of the human brain

There is no doubt that one of the big scientific challenges ahead is to understand how brain activity is translated into specific mental states. If we are to solve this question, we must first obtain a deeper knowledge of the outer layer of the brain, made up of billions of neurons, which is known as the neocortex. The neocortex is organized into functional areas associated with movement, perception and with higher cognitive abilities typical of humans. In Homo sapiens, the neocortex amounts roughly to 80% of the total mass of the brain, an evolutionary leap compared to other primates and even great apes. How was such innovation achieved?

Science and Communication matters

Today, the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra is launching a new tool to strengthen the knots between Science and the public.

Science Magazine recently published a survey conducted among more than 3700 members of The American Association for the Advancement of Science about their engagement with media. Roughly, results showed that 87% of our American colleagues thought that they should take an active role in public policy debates about science and technology. In contrast, less than half said they had ever used social media and almost eight in ten have never written in a blog.

In a world that spins around Facebook posts, shared articles, retweeted ideas and trending topics, it seems more important than ever to find a way to draw scientists and the different communication platforms closer and closer. However, there is still a long way to go. According to this survey, scientists still feel suspicious about media including their youngest versions, the social media. But this is not all… 84% perceive, as a major problem, the fact that the public doesn´t know much about science and 79% say news reports don´t distinguish well-founded findings from irrelevant scientific curiosities. How can we tackle this?

In the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra, we believe that science is there to be communicated. And we are convinced that it is also part of our job to help the public know the findings, the concepts, the relevance and the potential risks and benefits derived from our scientific activity. We also want to share the “excitement of the Eureka!” with our fellow citizens. It is evident that there are still obstacles and challenges and we all realize that it´s a matter of combined efforts, science and society together, to see our common goals achieved. As scientists, we need to convey the message that, on top of a deep understanding of human nature, the progress of any nation grows in parallel to its investment in research and in training of new generations of scientists. And to do so, we need do better and to be more refined in our dissemination activity and in the use of classic, new and upcoming communication media. 

This blog, which we are opening today, is one more step towards communicating science more effectively. This is at least our goal.  “Our Science Matters” is a virtual space intended for scientists, students, graduates, public information officers and the public in general. We hope to provide you all with that extra source of science, breakthroughs and more importantly, fascination and intrigue.

“Science communication requires time, trust, and twitter” is the title of an article about science journalism, also published some months ago in Science. We´ve got the time, we are offering you our trust and now, we will also add this blog to our twitter account. After all, in spite of difficulties and lack of understanding, when truth and knowledge need to come through, scientists and people working in the media we are all in the same team. All Science communication efforts are worth and valuable because Science… matters!

Luis Montuenga, Dean, School of Sciences