A number of recent studies have identified genes involved in common disorders, including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Researchers used gene chips to scan hundreds of thousands of DNA variations across thousands of individuals to find changes associated with the disorders.
“A Common Variant in the FTO Gene is Associated with Body Mass Index and Predisposes to Childhood and Adult Obesity” by Timothy M. Frayling and others, Science (volume 316), May 11, 2007, pages 889-894.
“ A Common Allele on Chromosome 9 Associated with Coronary Heart Disease” by Ruth McPherson and others, Sciencexpress May 3, 2007 (published online 10.1126/science.1142447).
“ A Common Variant on Chromosome 9p21 Affects the Risk of Myocardial Infarction” by Anna Helgodottir and others, Sciencexpress May 3, 2007 (published online 10.1126/science.1142842). . “ Genome-Wide Association Analysis Identifies Loci for Type 2 Diabetes and Triglyceride Levels” by Diabetes Genetics Initiative of Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Lund University, and Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Sciencexpress April 26, 2007 (published online 10.1126/science.1142358).
“ A Genome-Wide Association Study of Type 2 Diabetes in Finns Detects Multiple Susceptibility Variants” by Laura J. Scott and others, Sciencexpress April 26, 2007 (published online 10.1126/science.1142382).
“ Replication of Genome-Wide Association Signals in U.K. Samples Reveals Risk Loci for Type 2 Diabetes” by Eleftheria Zeggini and others, Sciencexpress April 26, 2007 (published online 10.1126/science.1142364).
POSTED May 18, 2007
Episode
4: No Escape for GM Pollen?
Little chance that genetic modifications to chloroplasts are transferred
by pollen to wild plants.
Critics of genetically modified (GM) crops worry that herbicide
resistance genes could be transferred to wild plants in pollen blown
from a field of GM plants. Now researchers have shown that GM genes
carried in maternally inherited chloroplasts are rarely transferred
through pollen to other plants.
"Determining the Transgene Containment Level
Provided by Chloroplast Transformation" by Stephanie Ruf, Daniel
Karcher, and Ralph Bock, Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences (volume 104), April 24, 2007, pages 6998-7002.
POSTED May 10, 2007
Episode 3: The Real Monkey's Uncle
Marmoset monkeys sometimes father their twin brother's children
with DNA they swapped as embryos.
Marmosets are almost always born as fraternal twins that share a
common placenta. Cells exchanged during embryonic development make
each sibling a "chimera" with a mixture of its own and
its sibling's cells. DNA testing recently showed that about half
of male marmosets also carry a mixture of sperm cells, so a marmoset
baby can actually inherit its uncle's DNA from its own father.
"Germ-line Chimerism and Paternal Care in Marmosets
(Cllithrix kuhlii)" by C.N. Ross, J.A. French, and G. Orti,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (volume 104),
April 10, 2007, pages 6278-6282.
POSTED May 3, 2007
Episode 3: The Real Monkey's Uncle
Marmoset monkeys sometimes father their twin brother's children
with DNA they swapped as embryos.
Marmosets are almost always born as fraternal twins that share a
common placenta. Cells exchanged during embryonic development make
each sibling a "chimera" with a mixture of its own and
its sibling's cells. DNA testing recently showed that about half
of male marmosets also carry a mixture of sperm cells, so a marmoset
baby can actually inherit its uncle's DNA from its own father.
"Germ-line Chimerism and Paternal Care in Marmosets
(Cllithrix kuhlii)" by C.N. Ross, J.A. French, and G. Orti,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (volume 104),
April 10, 2007, pages 6278-6282.
POSTED May 3, 2007
Episode 2: BIG DOG, little dog
Size differences between dogs come down to a single change in a
single gene.
All dogs are members of the same species, and each characteristic
breed is a result of selective breeding by humans. Now, scientists
have found that the extreme differences in dog size between
say a Chihuahua and Great Dane are largely determined by
a single change in a single gene.
"A Single IGF1 Allele is a Major Determinant
of Small Size in Dogs" by Nathan B. Sutter and others, Science
(volume 316), April 6, 2007, pages 112-115.
POSTED April 25, 2007
Episode 1: Dino Protein is for the Birds
Organic material from a T. rex bone shows that birds are
the closest living relatives of dinosaurs.
In echoes of Jurassic Park, organic material has for the
first time been recovered from a dinosaur fossil. Protein fragments
from a 68 million year old T. rex bone most closely match
samples from a chicken, providing further evidence of the evolutionary
relationship between dinosaurs and birds.
"Analyses of Soft Tissue from Tyrannosaurus rex Suggest
the Presence of Protein" by Mary Higby Schweitzer and others, Science
(volume 316), April 13, 2007, pages 277-280.
"Protein Sequences from Mastodon and Tyrannosaurus rex Revealed
by Mass Spectrometry" by John M. Asara and others, Science
(volume 316), April 13, 2007, pages 280-285.