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.
UC Berkeley, Yielding to 'Flawed Reading,' Alters Student Genetic-Testing Project
UC Berkeley has yielded to pressure from the California Department of Public Health, deciding to alter a principal component of a controversial project that would have genetically tested its incoming freshman and provide them with the results.
In a meeting with university officials yesterday, DPH "instructed" them that the school would not be allowed to show participating students their genetic data, according to University spokesperson Rob Sanders.
Berkeley made its decision after DPH said the project was medical testing, which requires a CLIA lab, while Berkeley said it was research. Unable "to find the specific type of lab willing to do the tests if they are deemed medical diagnostics," Sanders said yesterday, the school decided to take the students out of the equation.
Unable to find a "specific type of lab"? In Southern California, the nation's largest life-science and biotech region? I'll have to call Sanders in the morning to find out what he meant by that.
“We have taken every precaution and are committed to following the letter of the law with regard to any issue, but we believe this is a flawed reading" of a statute cited by DPH, said Mark Schlissel, dean of biological sciences at Berkeley’s College of Letters & Science and a co-creator of the project.
The school "still plans to analyze the DNA samples" in one of its on-campus research labs, and will present the results "in aggregate" to students in "lectures and panel discussions" during the coming fall semester.
The project will remain voluntary and anonymous, Berkeley said.
The university's loss is bittersweet. One day before it made its decision, state lawmakers defeated a bill that sought to kill the project outright and to "restrict the university's right to ask students for DNA for educational purposes."
Berkeley's capitulation wasn't enough for at least one of the project's critics. Minutes after the school announced its decision, the Council for Responsible Genetics issued a statement saying it was "pleased with the outcome."
But it also said it is "outrageous" that the issue required DPH to "intervene … before the University would address an issue that they have been aware about for some time, particularly when the best interests of their students were at stake."
Not enough that Berkeley was already supine and bleeding, CRG howled that the university's change of plans "is indicative of the lack of sufficient consideration and thought used to design [it] in the first place and the complete lack of appreciation for the serious issues raised about the program since it was publicly announced."
CRG also blames Berkeley's Chancellor and the entire Regents of the University of California system for a "lack of sufficient oversight."
Got a tip? Click my byline above to send it along or submit it as a comment below. Follow my headlines on Twitter or subscribe to my RSS feed.