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 Separate Pot
Over at Future Pundit, Randall Parker says the scientific community "should be concerned that biomedical research funding is under [the] control of older scientists that younger scientists spend much of their career working for." Because investigators now receive their first independent funding at a later age on average than they did even a decade ago, "they spend their younger years as grad students and (poorly paid) postdocs. This puts their research directions much more under the control of (older) professors who run labs and have grants flowing to them," Parker says. To combat that, he suggests that funding agencies "set aside a substantial portion of research funding for younger scientists." When it comes to "funding … people most likely to make big breakthroughs," he adds, "a bucket of money for under 35s would help matters."