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.
What They Don't Like About You
Josh Witten at the Rugbyologist goes through the list he calls "10 Things PZ Myers Hates About You, Francis Collins" to determine if it has merit. First, Witten says, yes, Collins was part of the "biggest of BIG SCIENCE" as that's what NHGRI required, that being a "gene jockey" isn't a bad thing as Collins has been looking for the cause of human disease, and that having a biomedical focus is actually necessary for the NIH. Then Witten adds some of the other complaints — that Collins thinks humans are not evolving or that he thinks that so-called "junk DNA" is functional — may stem from misinterpreted statements. "Collins is definitely not perfect, but we could do, and have done, a lot worse," he says.
On a related note, Nature News reports that Collins will step down from his position at BioLogos, the foundation that aims to reconcile faith and science, before taking the helm at NIH. "Discussion about the foundation and his involvement with it could readily become a distraction from the business of running the NIH," says Harold Varmus, a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and past NIH director.