Althouse: "But 999 proteins were significantly more active in testicular tissue than anywhere else in the body."

November 8, 2014

"But 999 proteins were significantly more active in testicular tissue than anywhere else in the body."

"The cerebral cortex of the brain had 318, the liver 172 and smooth muscle zero."

IN THE COMMENTS: Surfed reminds us of the old notion that men have 2 brains, and I said: "We always assume that the genital 'brain' is the lesser brain, but what if it's a genius compared to the brain brain?"

EDH said: "Vindication for those who thought Herman Cain's tax plan was 'the balls.' 999."

25 comments:

Anonymous said...: Re: "But 999 proteins were significantly more active in testicular tissue than anywhere else in the body."

Further research will no doubt show that at least 400 of those proteins in the testicular tissue relate to the ability to create humor, finally explaining why women are not as funny as men. Science.; 11/8/14, 7:46 AM
F said...: They need 999 proteins in order to have at least one that will ask directions; 11/8/14, 7:49 AM
David said...: The science is now settled.; 11/8/14, 7:51 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: The late great Robin Williams once said, "Men have two brains but only enough blood to work one at a time." Johnny Carson fell out...; 11/8/14, 7:55 AM
traditionalguy said...: Nuts. No wonder men think with them.; 11/8/14, 7:56 AM
David said...: Upside down, that would be 666 proteins.

Men are evil. You just have to look at things upside down to prove it.; 11/8/14, 7:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Upon hearing the news Jay-Z explained 'I got 999 proteins and a bitch got none'.; 11/8/14, 8:02 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Betamax3000, we anxiously await your Lena Dunham sexbot epic saga. Science demands it.; 11/8/14, 8:22 AM
Rusty said...: Goddamn right we do.; 11/8/14, 8:28 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: The tongue is mildly abrasive. The testicles have 999 proteins. Women, I think the answer presents itself.; 11/8/14, 8:47 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "The late great Robin Williams once said, "Men have two brains but only enough blood to work one at a time.""

I was looking for something to link to on the idea of the male genitals as second brain. That was certainly my association when I saw the testicles presented as superior material to the brain.

I wanted to say something like: We always assume that the genital "brain" is the lesser brain, but what if it's a genius compared to the brain brain?

But you had to bring up Robin Williams, and the joke about blood rushing into the penis, and when we think of Robin Williams now, we think of hanging.

That makes it impossible not to make associations to the "death erection" caused by hanging.; 11/8/14, 8:53 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: With 999 proteins of power behind it no wonder my penis is a mighty rocket ship.; 11/8/14, 8:55 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: "I wanted to say something like: We always assume that the genital "brain" is the lesser brain, but what if it's a genius compared to the brain brain?"

My testicles often produce creations that remind me of Jackson Pollock. That could be genius, right?; 11/8/14, 9:09 AM
Bob Boyd said...: After reading the blog today I've come to the conclusion that my nuts are on the autism spectrum.; 11/8/14, 9:23 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: @Althouse - "The phenomenon has been attributed to pressure on the cerebellum created by the noose.[3]" - kinda' like a cock ring. But still alive.; 11/8/14, 9:42 AM
trumpintroublenow said...: I wonder if the "lower" apes have more or less.; 11/8/14, 9:46 AM
Wince said...: Vindication for those who thought Herman Cain's tax plan was "the balls".

999

Yeah, my time exploded, space blew up
Need something in my dixie cup
Whoa, let me get it right
There's the best pair of lips I've kissed all night...

Yeah, the lion and lamb are locked in an embrace
You won't get it 'till it's in your face
Oooh, I got me out of deeper red
Don't panic, (999)
(Ninety nine), ah, it's where I want to be
Yeah, oh (ninety nine)
A useful member of society, huh (999); 11/8/14, 10:00 AM
RecChief said...: so the old joke about thinking with your little head is true?; 11/8/14, 10:06 AM
MadisonMan said...: Shame they couldn't find just one more.; 11/8/14, 10:17 AM
Bob Boyd said...: "Shame they couldn't find just one more."

Lack of funding.; 11/8/14, 10:33 AM
Biff said...: Back when I was still in the lab, I frequently would perform gene "expression" analyses, to find out which genes were active in particular tissues. The frequency at which particular genes were "turned on" in the brain and the testes but "turned off" everywhere else became a running joke in the lab. Interestingly, we didn't notice a similar pattern between the brain and ovaries, though we didn't try to investigate either relationship systematically.

As an aside, there is another part of the body which has been called a "second brain" with much more scientific evidence to support the term. It turns out that the digestive tract has quite a complex pattern of nerve cell connections, including a couple of clumps of neurons called "ganglia." (The term for the whole system is enteric nervous system.) The enteric nervous system has more complex connections, many more cells, and more varieties of cells than the entire nervous systems of many simpler animals. Most interestingly, it is capable of regulating normal gut behavior even when physically disconnected from the central nervous system. (I used to teach neuroanatomy, so I geek out on this stuff.); 11/8/14, 1:51 PM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Those proteins, and where they are, are just Nature's way of reminding us that, no matter how proud we are of our consciousnesses, we're really just avatars for our genes replication process.; 11/8/14, 2:06 PM
tim maguire said...: what if it's a genius compared to the brain brain?"

It's work IS more important.; 11/8/14, 2:15 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm rather disappointed that the article didn't have anything to say about how many proteins are differentially expressed in the ovaries. Given the rule that men and women can be different, so long as the female way is superior, I'm guessing that in this case this means that the ovaries have fewer proteins than the testes, and therefore the "scientists" didn't feel like they could talk about it. :-(

But given how much they were discussing the need for the extra genes to make sure the gametes were made correctly, it seems rather pathetic that they didn't do a comparison with the ovaries, and report on it.

So I went to the site and did some searches. Sad to say, their search interface sucks. But here's what I found:

Search on Testis:
http://www.proteinatlas.org/search/testis
3979 GENES FOUND

Search for high expression in Testis:
http://www.proteinatlas.org/search/normal_expression:Testis;High
4728 GENES FOUND

So, no idea what the search was that they did to get 999 proteins.

Aha! Found it:
http://www.proteinatlas.org/search/tissue_specificity_rna:Testis;Tissue+enriched
999

Note from below: Ovary # is 6. So the idea that this is about gamete production is ludicrous, since the ovaries face the exact same problem in that regard as do the testes.

Search on Tissue Specificity:
tissue_specificity_rna:Testis;Tissue enriched
+ tissue_specificity_rna:Testis;Tissue enhanced
+ tissue_specificity_rna:Testis;Group enriched
999 + 317 + 609 = 1925

Search on Ovary:
http://www.proteinatlas.org/search/Ovary
636 GENES FOUND

Search for high expression in Ovary:
http://www.proteinatlas.org/search/normal_expression:Ovary;High
1237 GENES FOUND

Search on Tissue Specificity:
tissue_specificity_rna:Ovary;Tissue enriched
+ tissue_specificity_rna:Ovary;Tissue enhanced
+ tissue_specificity_rna:Ovary;Group enriched
6 + 106 + 26 = 142; 11/8/14, 8:48 PM
Rusty said...: There once was a man from Asizes.
With balls of varying sizes.
One was quite small.
Almost no ball at all.
But the other was large and won prizes.; 11/8/14, 9:52 PM