Connection Between Epigenome, Selective Mutability, Evolution, and Human Disease
Li, Harris et al., PLoS Genetics
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere propose a "connection between the epigenome, selective mutability, evolution, and human disease" based on the findings of their study on associations of structural mutability with germline DNA methylation and with non-allelic homologous recombination mediated by low-copy repeats. "Combined evidence from four human sperm methylome maps, human genome evolution, structural polymorphisms in the human population, and previous genomic and disease studies consistently points to a strong association of germline hypomethylation and genomic instability," the Baylor-led team writes.
A Better Rice Plant
The tsunami last year brought seawater sweeping over Japanese rice fields, but now British and Japanese researchers are close to developing salt-resistant rice plants, reports the Wall Street Journal. The researchers took an approach called MutMap, which uses bioinformatics and next-gen sequencing to identify markers for traits like salt resistance or plant height. "[Japan's Iwate Biotechnology Research Center's Ryohei] Terauchi and his team have since established a mutant collection for salt tolerance which they are screening for markers," says a press release from The Sainsbury Laboratory. "Once these have been identified, they will be used to develop rice cultivars that can be grown in paddy fields flooded by the tsunami last March." The scientists add that their approach should reduce the time it takes to develop such new crops.