Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by randogp 3847 days ago
This Death by Coconut reminds me some mice from my colleague Jun.

These mice had a mutation in one gene but they were doing fine.

One Friday Jun gave them a chow diet from another supplier. The following Monday all mutant mice were died, control mice were OK.

TLDR, the new diet contained coconut oil instead of lard. After more study, this serendipitous observation led to discover a gene important for the break down of vegetal fat.

The study: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2013.08.032