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.
Still Looking for a Head
March 11, 2009
Wall Street Journal reports that Peggy Hamburg and Joshua Sharfstein are expected to become commissioner and deputy commissioner, respectively, of the US Food and Drug Administration. Hamburg was a health commissioner in New York City, and Sharfstein is the health chief in Baltimore. "The White House wants to position the FDA commissioner as someone who will lead the agency back to its core mission of public health, and the focus on Dr. Hamburg and Dr. Sharfstein fits that message, said people close to the situation," the article says.