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.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., on His Genome
February 20, 2012
From both his genome sequence and a paper record trail, Harvard University’s Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was able to delve into his ancestry, reports BusinessWeek. "It turns out that I'm descended on my mother's side from a white woman who was impregnated by a black slave, and on my father's side from an Irishman who conceived with a black woman named Jane Gates," he says, later adding: "I was searching for African roots, and they led to an African kingdom called the United Kingdom." Gates adds that he found nothing that worried him about his health.
I never knew that you could
I never knew that you could actually find out the names of your ancestors and their social status from sequencing your genome?
Oh wait! All that came from searching through historical documents. Dr. Gates Jr.'s genome sequence was apparently less insightful.