Two groups have pinpointed mutations in mitochondrial inorganic pyrophosphatase gene PPA2 as the causes of sudden cardiac deaths among children in various families. The gene and its protein were “not known to be so important to the cell before this study,” Jeanne Amiel, a genetics researcher at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research and a coauthor on one of the two studies published in The American Journal of Human Genetics this week (August 11), told The Scientist. “This was not expected.”
“It’s exciting that these authors opened up a new [biological] network [to investigate] for families who have lost a child unexpectedly or a young adult unexpectedly,” said Debra Weese-Mayer of Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago who was not involved in the work.
Using two-photon optogenetic stimulation, researchers at Columbia University and their colleagues artificially activated neurons in the visual cortices of living mice. The team’s results were ...
