What has van Gogh got to do with genetics? Well, researchers have unpicked the genetics of the sunflowers in his famous paintings. The team, from the University of Georgia scientists found the mutation behind the distinctive, thick bands of yellow double flowers, and the results are published in the journal PLoS Genetics.
genetics archive.
Like many conditions, there have been number of genes been linked with obesity, and there are likely to be more as researchers unpick this complex disorder. A team from the Early Growth Genetics (EGG) Consortium, led by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, has found two gene variants that seem to increase the risk of obesity in children.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!” This is how Lewis Carroll’s famous nonsense poem starts. But some new research from Norwegian genomic researcher Olof Prila has found evidence that Carroll, who was known as a mathematician and inventor, may have dabbled in the sciences too. In a hitherto unexplored cupboard in his rooms at Christ Church, Oxford, animal samples, some fossilized, have been found, which suggest that the Jabberwock may have a foundation in fact not just in fantasy.
There are lots of things that influence a baby’s weight, including the mother’s diet and weight, but it seems that a gene, known as PHLDA2, could also play a part too. Researchers at the UCL Institute of Child Health have found a single genetic variant, inherited by the baby from the mother (or even the grandmother) significantly increases a baby’s birth weight.
It’s spring in the Northern hemisphere, and zoos are looking to breed their tigers, but they need to maximise disease resistance or maintain genetic diversity. But they need to do this without inbreeding. Select pairs for breeding to play – but it’s harder than it looks!
There’s been a lot of research on the genetics of obesity, and it’s likely that more than one gene will be involved. And it’s important to know – as well as the effect that obesity has on the heart and the risk of cancer and diabetes, it may also affect brain function in later life.
There has been a lot of talk recently of the promise of personalised medicine, but some recent research led by Cancer Research UK may mean that this isn’t as simple as we thought – a genetic profile from one part of a tumour may not be the same as a sample from nearby in the same tumour.
Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) have long been part of the genomics researcher’s toolbox – the basic genetic systems in a fruit fly are common to all organisms, it is small, breeds quickly and its genetics are well known. The Freeze 1.0 release of the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) will provide a new level of information for genomics researchers – this genotype-phenotype resource contains the genome structure and variation in a population of 192 fruit flies with diverse traits at the highest resolution to date.
The idea of whole genome sequencing is becoming ever more popular, but it could mean you end up with more information than you bargained for; from your resistance to certain drugs to your risk of developing a range of diseases. But would you want to know? The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute ethics team has launched a survey to find out what people really do (and don’t) want to know about their genomes.
ScienceIndex.com is a Web 2.0 sciences social network established in 1998 to index the very latest news, headlines, references and resources from science journals, books and websites worldwide. The site covers news in all fields of biology, business, chemistry, engineering, geography, health, mathematics and society.
