{"id":2927,"date":"2024-05-03T15:07:39","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T15:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/03\/scientists-identify-degrees-of-kevin-bacon-gene\/"},"modified":"2024-05-03T15:07:39","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T15:07:39","slug":"scientists-identify-degrees-of-kevin-bacon-gene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/03\/scientists-identify-degrees-of-kevin-bacon-gene\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists identify \u2018degrees of Kevin Bacon\u2019 gene"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many species of animals form social groups and behave collectively: An elephant herd follows its matriarch, flocking birds fly in unison, humans gather at concert events. Even humble fruit flies <\/strong>organize themselves into regularly spaced clusters, researchers have found. <\/p>\n

Within those social networks, certain individuals will <\/strong>often <\/strong>stand out as \u201cgatekeepers,\u201d playing an important role for cohesion and communication within that group. <\/p>\n

And now, scientists believe there is evidence that how central you are to your social network, a concept they call \u201chigh betweenness centrality,\u201d could have a genetic basis. New research published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications has identified a gene responsible for regulating the structure of social networks in fruit flies. <\/p>\n

The study\u2019s authors named the gene in question \u201cdegrees of Kevin Bacon,\u201d or dokb, after a game that requires players to link celebrities to actor Bacon in as few steps as possible via the movies they have in common. <\/p>\n

Inspired by \u201csix degrees of separation,\u201d the theory that nobody is more than six relationships away from any other person in the world, the game became a viral phenomenon three decades ago. <\/p>\n

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Senior author Joel Levine, a professor of biology at the University of Toronto who went to high school with Bacon in Philadelphia, said the actor was a good human example of \u201chigh betweenness centrality.\u201d <\/p>\n

Aware of Levine\u2019s link with Bacon, study lead author Rebecca Rooke, a postdoctoral fellow of biology at the University of Toronto Mississauga, suggested the gene\u2019s name. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe degrees of separation is a real-world thing for us,\u201d Levine said. <\/p>\n

Having high measures of centrality in a group network can be positive or negative, Levine explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cPatterns of sharing and communication can be absolutely wonderful,\u201d he said. \u201cYou also have patterns that contribute to the spread of lethal diseases and infectious diseases, but the structure of the group is the same structure. It\u2019s not a good or a bad or a positive or a negative.\u201d <\/p>\n

Levine said that the \u201cdegrees of Kevin Bacon\u201d gene was specific to fruit flies\u2019 central nervous systems, but he thought similar genetic pathways would exist in other animals, including humans. The study opened up new opportunities for exploring the molecular evolution of social networks and collective behavior in other animals.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The gene behind fruit fly social networks<\/h3>\n

The researchers investigated a number of gene candidates in fruit flies, a common lab organism used in the study of genetics. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe found two versions of the dokb gene and one version produces networks with high betweenness centrality and the other version produces networks with low betweenness centrality,\u201d Levine said. <\/p>\n

\u201cA network with a high average betweenness centrality indicates there are individuals in the network important for the flow of information from one part of the network to other parts.\u201d <\/p>\n

The team used gene-editing techniques to knock out and swap these distinct variants to see what happened among different strains of flies. This exchange influenced the patterns of interaction among a network of flies, with a social group taking on the pattern of the donor variant. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference that we would see is a difference in group cohesion. It\u2019s not a difference that you would see with your naked eye,\u201d Levine said. <\/p>\n

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If you observe video footage of fruit flies in a dish in the lab, Levine said they appear to interact with one another, forming repeatable patterns specific to different strains that can be analyzed statistically. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we know is that there\u2019s a repeatable structure to the groups that they\u2019re in,\u201d Levine said. \u201cAnd we imagine that those structures facilitate how they live.\u201d <\/p>\n

In nature, fruit flies show group behavior when laying eggs and encountering predators, Levine said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn our paper, we don\u2019t actually characterize what is flowing through the network, so it is hard to speculate what advantages\/disadvantages there are to flies who form these different patterns of interaction,\u201d he explained in an email. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we do show that the two different dokb variants exist in several wild strains of flies spanning the globe and that one of these variants correlates with low elevation environments,\u201d Levine said. \u201cPerhaps in low elevations, certain patterns of interaction are advantageous? Again, we don\u2019t directly test this, so it is just speculation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Allen J. Moore, a distinguished research professor at the University of Georgia\u2019s department of entomology, said in an email that the research was \u201ccareful work\u201d and he agreed with the findings. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough a first step \u2014 and we (and they) don\u2019t know exactly how it works \u2014 it is fascinating to find a single gene that influences social cohesion,\u201d said Moore, who wasn\u2019t involved in the research but reviewed the paper before publication. <\/strong> <\/p>\n

What fruit flies and humans share in common<\/h3>\n

Drosophila melanogaster, best known for hovering around fruit bowls, has been a model organism to explore genetics for more than 100 years. The insects breed quickly and are easy to keep. <\/p>\n

While flies are very different from humans, the creatures have long been central to biological and genetic discovery. <\/p>\n

\u201cFruit flies are useful because of the power of manipulation. We can investigate things experimentally in Drosophila that we can only examine indirectly in most organisms,\u201d Moore said. <\/p>\n

The tiny creatures share nearly 60% of our genes, including those responsible for Alzheimer\u2019s, Parkinson\u2019s, cancer and heart disease. Research involving fruit flies has previously shed light on the mechanisms of inheritance, circadian rhythms and mutation-causing X-rays. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n

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