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.
So Much on Its Plate
May 04, 2009
The Medical Writing, Editing & Grantsmanship reminds us all that there might be some re-organization going on at NIH. The Scientific Management Review Board, selected by Elias Zerhouni before his resignation last October, met to ponder the possibility that the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse should merge, and also whether the structure of intramural research at NIH, including the clinical center, should be reviewed. The board decided that the plans merited further study.