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.
For a Good Cause
March 13, 2009
23andme is expanding its 23andWe initiative, which aims to acquire detailed health and trait data from existing customers, by recruiting 10,000 Parkinson's disease patients for a targeted analysis of the genetic and environmental causes of this disease. The program, backed in part by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, was announced on the 23andMe blog. Parkinson's patients get access to the full features of a 23andMe genome scan for $25 in return for participation in online surveys. "I think the model of participant-driven research is a novel and powerful one, that will increasingly come to dominate the genomic research landscape," according to blogger Daniel MacArthur.