Odd Antlers of the Animal Kingdom

Deer are undoubtedly one of the most iconic creatures of the North American animal kingdom, I mean they are the logo of four big hunting outfitting brands, two fairly large fitness brands, and three large hipster beard care brands. It is without a doubt that the iconic feature which attracts everyone to these herbivores is their elegant antlers.

While there is not a person alive who doesn't recognize these classic symbols, most people don't have the slightest clue how they work, I mean they are one of the fastest growing bones in the animal kingdom and they extend from a structure that is extremely similar to one that we as humans have, that being the skull, so how does that happen?

The answer is certainly shocking: the same genes which promote cell growth and suppress cancer cell development not only allow antlers to grow at the impressive weight they do but also maintain their shape. In deer antlers you see the same the genes which would promote tumors in humans create the rapid growth we associate with antlers but this growth is prevented from reaching a level that is unbeneficial to life for the deer by tumor suppressing genes. As Edward Davis says in the below article "...antlers [are] using essentially a controlled form of bone cancer growth".This means that during mitosis antler cells display bone cancer-like traits, growing and dividing at an abnormally fast rate. However, unlike bone cancer the growth of these cells is checked by tumor suppressor and growth genes. The tumor promoting genes are a fairly simpler concept, they simply promote cell division occurring at a higher rate but the truly amazing part of this is the genes which control cancer growth, which would be of clear interest of study to many(How Cancer Genes relate to Antler Growth ). 

Antlers are also a very promising field of study due to their extremely rare regenerative properties, sprouting in the spring and shedding in the winter, so this research could be of much interest towards therapies for bone diseases and injuries in human beings. The way scientists have attempted to deepen their understanding of this is by identifying the specific genes which lead this process. Through their research scientists at Stanford University have determined two genes which lead this process, uhrf1 and s100a10, although these two have entirely different purposes. The gene uhrf1 supports a higher rate of bone cell formation and s100a10 leads to a faster rate of mineralization. For those who are not familiar with what mineralization means in this context, more simply put, mineralization means the hardening of bone tissue, specifically due to the bone matrix becoming filled with calcium phosphate nanocrystals. This means that these two genes work together with uhrf1 growing the antlers and s100a10 shaping them into the classic shapes we associate with deer antlers.(Genetic research into Antler growth)
The problem that then arises is the same one that arises with any gene, what happens when one of these genes is turned off?

Now obviously any genes which have been turned off accidently in the DNA of a cell can be detrimental, these mutations can lead to any number of genetic disorders which can sometimes be incompatible with life. Luckily with deer antler growth the effect of either of the two pertinent genes being deactivated is not too severe as has been typically observed in the wild. As has been observed when the uhrf1 gene is non-functional deer will not have antler growth at an equitable rate and when the s100a10 gene is non-functional the rate and form of antler growth will not be suppressed and so will behave more like normal tumor cells. The s100a10 is clearly the more interesting of the two and can lead to a number of interesting yet sometimes worrying mutations.

 Image 4+5:Two deer with non-functional s100a10 genes (Link)

While these mutation are certainly interesting they are not incompatible with life for the deer and could even be beneficial to them in some scenarios. Despite these genes sometimes failing in nature, they could still prove vital to us as humans, because as mundane as deers may seem their iconic antlers might just hold the secret to preventing any other human from suffering from cancer, bone disease, or a broken bone ever again.