Question

In the paper we discussed in class wherein they used cells from elephants

a) researchers found that elephants being large had more cells and hence were more susceptible to cancer

b) researchers found that elephants being large had more cells but were less susceptible to cancer.

Answer 1

ANSWER: (B)

REASON: Despite the ridiculous rumor,sharks do get cancer.Elephants though,rarely do, and that's a weird phenomenon that scientists have really struggled to explain.But they may have finally cracked it:According to a new study ,it's all in the genes.Well, one gene ,and their2 copies of it.

Elephants are obviously big animals, so you would logically assume that more cells equals a greater risk of something going wrong.Cell division isn't error-proof , and mistakes that could lead to mutation are often made if not dealt with appropriately.

But as expected,cancer mortality didn't increase with body size, and elephants were estimated to only have a 4.8% cancer mortality rate;in humans it's upto to 25%. Unlike humans that only own the one ,elephants have 20 copies,and therefore 40 forms,or alleles,of a gene called TP53 which codes for a protein called p53 .TP53 is what's known as a tumor suppressor gene: these cellular safeguards function to prevent inappropriate cell division and kill off cells to keep things balanced.