The topic of Biological molecules is undoubtedly one of the most important topics on the whole A-Level Biology spec. Knowing about the body’s organic molecules helps us to understand so many other topics in Biology. This week I found an interesting Biology news article about a fatty acid and how its research is paving the way for preventing and even reversing age-related vision loss.

As part of both the AQA and OCR(A) Biology specs you will have learnt about lipids. The triglyceride – a macromolecule – being made of glycerol and three fatty acids each joined by an ester bond. The fatty acids could be either saturated with no carbon double bonds or unsaturated and contain one carbon double bond (monounsaturated) or many carbon double bonds (polyunsaturated).

The scientists at the university of California have been carrying out experiments on mice to investigate vision loss. Their research indicates that a polyunsaturated fatty acid in the retina, when given as a supplement can reverse age-related vision decline.

They included research about an enzyme that when not active causes vision decline. I love its name - Elongation of Very Long Chain Fatty Acids Protein 2 (ELOVL2). By making this enzyme more active, it resulted in higher concentrations of a fatty acid called DHA and better vision.

The new research aimed to work directly with the fatty acids as supplements. Older people have less very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLC-PUFAs) in the retina. I love this name too! The link is the ELOVL2 enzyme is responsible for producing the fatty acids VLC-PUFAs and DHA.

Injecting DHA alone didn’t give the desired effect, but when they injected the mice with a specific fatty acid, they witnessed improvement in vision.

They even found a genetic link to early onset vision decline – there are some variants of the gene that codes for ELOVL2 that result in vision decline. If these people could be identified it could provide targeted treatment.

There is building evidence that the ELOVL2 enzyme plays a role in the aging process – I think many people will be interested in a treatment for the aging process!

Download the article from the Independent page here