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.
Renato Dulbecco Dies
Renato Dulbecco, the genome sequencing proponent who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in medicine "for his role in drawing a link between genetic mutations and cancer," has died, reports The New York Times. He was 97. A founding fellow of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., Dulbecco's prize-winning work "showed that certain viruses could insert their own genes into infected cells and trigger uncontrolled cell growth, a hallmark of cancer," the Times says, adding that this discovery "provided the first solid evidence that cancer was caused by genetic mutations." In 1986, Dulbecco "proposed cataloging all human genes to gain deeper insights into cancer," the Times reports, thus "providing the intellectual impetus for the Human Genome Project."
Renato Delbecco was a
Renato Delbecco was a legend.I still remember meeting him at a meeting; he came upto me and congratulated me for isolating the first cellular ras oncogene in the form of a rat sarcoma virus.
He did simple experiments to answer big questions. The world needs more of these thinkers and doers.
We will miss him.
Suraiya Rasheed