scholarly journals Fishing for Genes: How the Largest Gene Family in the Mammalian Genome was Found (and Why Idiosyncrasy in Exploration Matters)

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-387
Author(s):  
Ann-Sophie Barwich
Keyword(s):  
Gene Family ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Multigene Family ◽  
Experimental System ◽  
Mammalian Genome ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Individual Researcher ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Odor Receptors

Abstract In 1991, Linda Buck and Richard Axel identified the multigene family expressing odor receptors. Their discovery transformed research on olfaction overnight, and Buck and Axel were awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Behind this success lies another, less visible study about the methodological ingenuity of Buck. This hidden tale holds the key to answering a fundamental question in discovery analysis: What makes specific discovery tools fit their tasks? Why do some strategies turn out to be more fruitful than others? The fit of a method with an experimental system often establishes the success of a discovery. However, the underlying reasoning of discovery is hard to codify. These difficulties point toward an element of discovery analysis routinely sidelined as a mere biographical element in the philosophical analysis of science: the individual discoverer’s role. I argue that the individual researcher is not a replaceable epistemic element in discovery analysis. This article draws on contemporary oral history, including interviews with Buck and other actors key to developments in late 1980s olfaction.

Sisterhood and After

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaretta Jolly
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Women's Liberation ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Collective Memories ◽  
Women’S Liberation ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Personal Accounts ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Cultural Taste

This ground-breaking history of the UK Women’s Liberation Movement explores the individual and collective memories of women at its heart. Spanning at least two generations and four nations, and moving through the tumultuous decades from the 1970s to the present, the narrative is powered by feminist oral history, notably the British Library’s Sisterhood and After: The Women’s Liberation Oral History Project. The book mines these precious archives to bring fresh insight into the lives of activists and the campaigns and ideas they mobilised. It navigates still-contested questions of class, race, violence, and upbringing—as well as the intimacies, sexualities and passions that helped fire women’s liberation—and shows why many feminists still regard notions of ‘equality’ or even ‘equal rights’ as insufficient. It casts new light on iconic campaigns and actions in what is sometimes simplified as feminism’s ‘second wave’, and enlivens a narrative too easily framed by ideological abstraction with candid, insightful, sometimes painful personal accounts of national and less well-known women activists. They describe lives shaped not only by structures of race, class, gender, sexuality and physical ability, but by education, age, love and cultural taste. At the same time, they offer extraordinary insights into feminist lifestyles and domestic pleasures, and the crossovers and conflicts between feminists. The work draws on oral history’s strength as creative method, as seen with its conclusion, where readers are urged to enter the archives of feminist memory and use what they find there to shape their own political futures.

scholarly journals Identification of members of the P-glycoprotein multigene family.

1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1224-1232 ◽  
Author(s):  
W F Ng ◽  
F Sarangi ◽  
R L Zastawny ◽  
L Veinot-Drebot ◽  
V Ling
Keyword(s):  
Multidrug Resistance ◽  
Gene Duplication ◽  
Gene Family ◽  
Multigene Family ◽  
Rhesus Monkeys ◽  
Genomic Library ◽  
Duplication Event ◽  
Glycoprotein Gene ◽  
P Glycoprotein ◽  
Exon Probe

Overproduction of P-glycoprotein is intimately associated with multidrug resistance. This protein appears to be encoded by a multigene family. Thus, differential expression of different members of this family may contribute to the complexity of the multidrug resistance phenotype. Three lambda genomic clones isolated from a hamster genomic library represent different members of the hamster P-glycoprotein gene family. Using a highly conserved exon probe, we found that the hamster P-glycoprotein gene family consists of three genes. We also found that the P-glycoprotein gene family consists of three genes in mice but has only two genes in humans and rhesus monkeys. The hamster P-glycoprotein genes have similar exon-intron organizations within the 3' region encoding the cytoplasmic domains. We propose that the hamster P-glycoprotein gene family arose from gene duplication. The hamster pgp1 and pgp2 genes appear to be more closely related to each other than either gene is to the pgp3 gene. We speculate that the hamster pgp1 and pgp2 genes arose from a recent gene duplication event and that primates did not undergo this duplication and therefore contain only two P-glycoprotein genes.

scholarly journals Accounting for ethics: towards a de-humanised comparative approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Whiteman
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Online Research ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Individual Researcher ◽  
The Individual

In rejecting the ultimate authority of proceduralised ethics and instead emphasising the ongoing complexity of ethical manoeuvring, writing on ethics-as-process often presents the individual researcher as the authentic locus of ethical practice. This article seeks to distance from such humanist tendencies. It aims to shift attention away from the experience of the ethical researcher to consider, rather, the fixing of ethical stances in accounts of activity. Arguing for a comparative approach to the empirical, accounts of two different activities are examined: online research and online media consumption. A framework for describing the anchoring of ethical positions across these texts is introduced, one that challenges the achievement of ethical ‘security’ in research. It is argued that claims that the researcher is an authentic point of access to an ethical truth must give way to a consideration of the modes by which ethical claims are made.

scholarly journals Differential expression of five tRNA(UAGTrp) amber suppressors in Caenorhabditis elegans.

1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 3627-3635 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Kondo ◽  
J Hodgkin ◽  
R H Waterston
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Gene Family ◽  
Development Stage ◽  
Base Change ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Specific Manner ◽  
Flanking Sequences ◽  
Single Base Change ◽  
The Individual

Caenorhabditis elegans has 12 tRNA(UGGTrp) genes as defined by Southern analysis. In order to evaluate the function of the individual members of this multigene family, we sought to recover amber (UAG)-suppressing mutations from reversion experiments with animals carrying amber mutations in a nervous system-affecting gene (unc-13) or a sex-determining gene (tra-3). Revertants were analyzed by Southern blot, exploiting the fact that the CCA to CTA change at the anticodon creates a new XbaI site. Five different members of the tRNATrp gene family were identified as suppressors: sup-7 X, sup-5 III, sup-24 IV, sup-28 X, and sup-29 IV. All five suppressor genes were sequenced and found to encode identical tRNA(UAGTrp) molecules with a single base change (CCA to CTA) at the anticodon compared with their wild-type counterparts. The flanking sequences had only limited homology. The relative expression of these five genes was determined by measuring the efficiencies of suppressers against amber mutations in genes affecting the nervous system, hypodermis, muscle, and sex determination. The results of these cross-suppression tests showed that the five members of the tRNA(Trp) gene family were differentially regulated in a tissue- or development stage-specific manner.

scholarly journals The Most Homophobic Place on Earth? A Look Into the Anti-Homosexuality Culture of Jamaica

Perceptions ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Effi Booth
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Western World ◽  
Contemporary History ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
History Of ◽  
Degree Of Acceptance ◽  
Scholarly Data ◽  
The Individual

This paper was presented in History 3697, fall semester, 2017, a mid-level required writing course designed to link the methods of oral history with the study of issues in the contemporary history of the non-western world. The issue for all of us in this course was social change in recent times. I chose to examine the degree of acceptance of gays in Jamaica, in an era of great change in sexual mores throughout the world. I read the literature; I interviewed Julian, a recent immigrant from Jamaica, and I drew conclusions based on integrating the scholarly material with the interview revelations. The findings were important both for understanding (the lack of) change in sexual attitudes in Jamaica, and the importance of analysis of the individual and the collective together, of the interview and the scholarly data examined together. The individual, at least my interviewee, and the society, are currently resistant to change. The main conclusion: changes in sexual mores in other areas of the world are taking place at rates very different from, and, specifically in Jamaica, at rates much slower than, those in the USA.

scholarly journals Um encontro com as fontes em História Oral

2006 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Fábio Freire Montysuma
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Field Work ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Neste trabalho refletimos sobre a produção e os usos das fontes e dos instrumentos metodológicos que orientam as ações na condução do trabalho do historiador que lida com o que se convencionou chamar História Oral. Buscamos discutir a singularidade do trabalho de campo, envolvendo a relação entre o pesquisador e as pessoas ouvidas, como condição de uma ciência que lida essencialmente com o indivíduo. Abstract In this article we reflect upon the production and uses of sources and methodological tools which guide the actions of the historian who deals with the field conventionally referred to as Oral History. We aim at discussing the singularity of field work, bringing into play the relationship between the researcher and people who are listened to – a vital condition for a science that essentially deals with the individual. Palavras-chave: Fontes. Metodologia. História Oral. Key words: Sources. Methodology. Oral History.

Nucleotide sequences of liver, lachrymal, and submaxillary gland mouse major urinary protein mRNAs: mosaic structure and construction of panels of gene-specific synthetic oligonucleotide probes

1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 1938-1946
Author(s):  
K Shahan ◽  
M Gilmartin ◽  
E Derman
Keyword(s):  
Gene Family ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Submaxillary Gland ◽  
Nucleotide Sequences ◽  
Oligonucleotide Probes ◽  
Mrna Species ◽  
Major Urinary Proteins ◽  
Synthetic Oligonucleotide ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Distinct Member

The mouse major urinary proteins (MUPs) are encoded by a gene family of about 35 to 40 members. MUPs are synthesized in at least six secretory tissues under a variety of developmental and endocrine controls, but the identities of the individual genes expressed in each tissue have not previously been established. In this article, we present the nucleotide sequences of five MUP mRNAs which we designate MUP I through V. MUPs I, II, and III are the most abundant MUP mRNA species in the liver, and MUPs IV and V are the most abundant MUP mRNA species in the lachrymal gland and the submaxillary gland, respectively. The sequence data show that each of the five mRNAs is encoded by a distinct member of the gene family. The structures of the MUP mRNA consist of interspersed segments of variable and conserved sequences. On the basis of the sequences of the variable segments, gene-specific panels of synthetic oligonucleotide probes were prepared. The gene-specific panels were used to identify cloned genes and, as described in the accompanying paper (K. Shahan, M. Denaro, M. Gilmartin, Y. Shi, and E. Derman, Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:1947-1954, 1987), to characterize the expression of MUP genes I through V.

scholarly journals Lack of experience-based stratification in homing pigeon leadership hierarchies

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 150518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isobel Watts ◽  
Benjamin Pettit ◽  
Máté Nagy ◽  
Theresa Burt de Perera ◽  
Dora Biro
Keyword(s):  
Prior Experience ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Homing Pigeon ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Homing Pigeons ◽  
Adaptive Value ◽  
Collective Decisions ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Individual

In societies that make collective decisions through leadership, a fundamental question concerns the individual attributes that allow certain group members to assume leadership roles over others. Homing pigeons form transitive leadership hierarchies during flock flights, where flock members are ranked according to the average time differences with which they lead or follow others' movement. Here, we test systematically whether leadership ranks in navigational hierarchies are correlated with prior experience of a homing task. We constructed experimental flocks of pigeons with mixed navigational experience: half of the birds within each flock had been familiarized with a specific release site through multiple previous releases, while the other half had never been released from the same site. We measured the birds' hierarchical leadership ranks, then switched the same birds' roles at a second site to test whether the relative hierarchical positions of the birds in the two subsets would reverse in response to the reversal in levels of experience. We found that while across all releases the top hierarchical positions were occupied by experienced birds significantly more often than by inexperienced ones, the remaining experienced birds were not consistently clustered in the top half—in other words, the network did not become stratified. We discuss our results in light of the adaptive value of structuring leadership hierarchies according to ‘merit’ (here, navigational experience).

Black. Queer. Southern. Women.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Patrick Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Female Sexuality ◽  
Black Female ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Religion And Spirituality ◽  
Southern Women ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Gender Performances ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Black Queer

Black. Queer. Southern. Women.: An Oral History reveals how identity is made through race, gender, sexuality, class, and region. In particular, it centers the life stories of more than seventy Black, queer women from the U.S. South. With their lives and experiences as the focus, E. Patrick Johnson recasts a singular narrative of the South and illustrates the plurality of Black queer women’s identities. He also puts the complexity of Black female sexuality on display, drawing out multiple themes—childhood and adolescence; mother-daughter relationships; gender performances; religion and spirituality; sexual desires; dating and intimacy; and creative and political work. The interdisciplinary work blends oral history and performance ethnography methods to emphasize the rich tapestry of these women’s lives and give texture to their narratives. The book is divided into two parts. Part one, “G.R.I.T.S.: Stories of Growing Up Black, Female, and Queer,” is comprised of seven chapters and organized thematically, pulling out portions of women’s narratives that speak to each subject. Part two, “My Soul Looks Back and Wonders: Stories of Perseverance and Hope,” is comprised of six chapters, each of which delves into an individual woman’s narrative. Taken together, the sections reflect Johnson’s careful attention to the tension between history and biography; the structural and the interpersonal; the collective and the individual.

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