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.
Norton Zinder Dies
February 08, 2012
Norton Zinder, who was a molecular biologist at Rockefeller University, has died, reports The New York Times. He was 83.
As a graduate student, Zinder worked out that viruses could transfer genes between bacteria. He later studied protein synthesis, competing with James Watson. Zinder spent his career at Rockefeller University in Manhattan, and "became an influential voice in many significant issues of science policy," the Times says. Zinder was involved in the start of the Human Genome Project, and helped mediate the truce between the public and private efforts. "He had trouble keeping his mouth shut, but in some ways that was disarming for people," Jesse Ausubel, a Rockefeller researcher, tells the Times.