NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Researchers from the University of Iowa and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have uncovered variants in two related genes that appear to be associated with the risk of developing an eating disorder.
By genotyping more than 1,000 individuals with anorexia nervosa and almost 4,000 unaffected controls, researchers have identified common SNPs and rare CNVs that appear to be linked to the condition.
Their results, detailed this month in PLoS ONE, suggest that this approach — sequencing, at a high depth, chromosomal regions identified by linkage tests — may be a good method for identifying genes in hereditary disease.
The Associated Press reports that an ethicist predicts that prenatal diagnosis and other advances will lead to more choices being available to prospective parents.
