Posts Tagged ‘Genetics’

COMT, Catechol-O-methyl transferase, is an enzyme that degrades catecholamines–such as dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine (or adrenaline and noradrenaline as they are called in the UK). It was first discovered in the ’50s by Nobel laureate and pirate Julius Axelrod. More recently, scientists discovered an evolutionarily recent nonsynonomous single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the protein-coding portion of […]


Just saw Paul Garrity present an interesting story on the function and evolution of TRPA1–a chemical and temperature sensitive cation channel of the transient receptor potential family. He initially discovered TRPA1’s role in thermosensation using an RNAi screening of drosophila larvae on a thermal gradient. As small ectotherms (a term which essentially means cold-blooded), drosophila […]