Although scientists and laypeople alike once believed that
the effects of genes on health and behavior are direct and immutable, scientists now recognize that there is substantial regulation of genetic expression by the environment, resulting in gene — environment interactions.
Originating from molecular biology, Genomics branched out to become a vast field that includes research into the structure and function of genomes, evolution and
the effects of genes on health and disease.
Despite the proliferation of GWAS, the associations found so far have largely failed to account for the known
effects of genes on complex disease — the problem of «missing heritability.»
The effects of the gene on white are not seen because white can not be phenotypically lightened.
Not exact matches
This team also discovered 3,200
genes that had fewer loss -
of - function or missense mutations than would be expected suggesting that these are likely disease - causing variants that are rare or absent in the population because
of their detrimental
effect on human health.
It is, as well, an antidote to Mississippi Burning, a dishonest, award - winning new film in which blacks wait patiently and fearfully in the background for deliverance by two white FBI agents, played by
Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe, who zealously bend the law in the interest
of justice — a film one fears will have a profound
effect on the way many Americans view their nation in the King Years («The Dream Dafoed,» as the Village Voice put it).
In this paper, I tried to interpret evolution as a continually shifting balance, spatially and temporally, among what I called the pressures
of mutation, selection, and migration
on gene frequencies, in conjunction with the
effects of random drift composed
of random variations in these pressures and
of local accidents
of sampling.
The organism draws its
genes from an enormously variegated
gene pool; it develops under the influence
of them and also under those
of a probably pretty heterogeneous environment; and, at any given stage
of its life, the way its
genes and its previous environment have acted up to that point may have considerable
effect on the nature
of the environment to which it will next be subjected — if the animal does not like it here it may migrate someplace else, and so
on.
The evidence for epigenetic
effects on emotion regulation is quite solid: Early caregiving experiences can affect the expression
of the
genes that regulate a baby's stress and they can shape how the endocrine system will mobilize to stress.
Early life stress, such as an extreme lack
of parental affection, has lasting
effects on a
gene important to normal brain processes and is also tied to mental disorders.
Years
of exposure to environmental toxins such as pesticides, paint strippers and other chemicals could be having more subtle
effects on the way in which
genes within the sperm are tagged and used later
on.
We confirmed this
gene — environment interaction in two birth cohorts, and we ruled out alternative explanations
of the finding involving
gene — exposure correlation, intrauterine growth, social class, and maternal cognitive ability, as well as maternal genotype
effects on breastfeeding and breast milk.
Although this could mean that new
genes are turned
on in middle childhood, it is more likely that the same
genes have different
effects in the brains
of 8 - year - olds as compared to 4 - year - olds (Plomin, 1986).
In fact, specific
genes are studied for their impact
on the threshold
effect of some teratogens.
«This confirms something we have long suspected, namely that the
effects of sleep deprivation are not general in nature, but rather depend
on the specific task and the
genes of the person performing the task.»
«We wanted to find out if obesity - related
genes and activity level have an interactive
effect on obesity risk — if there is a «double whammy»
effect of being both at genetic risk and physically inactive, beyond the additive
effect of these factors,» said Dr. Wood.
«Identifying which
of these candidate
genes actually causes variation in responses to cold snaps will give us the potential to understand whether evolution to climate change can occur in both wild and domesticated animals, allowing us to better predict which species or breeds will be «winners» and «losers» and to better mitigate the
effects of anthropogenic climate change
on a wide range
of organisms from beneficial pollinators to invasive pests,» said Theodore Morgan an associate professor
of evolutionary genetics in the Division
of Biology at Kansas State University and senior author
of the study.
For instance, the development
of the placenta is a constant tug
of war between maternal and paternal
genes, which can have knock -
on effects for the fetus.
«Our aim was to explore the
effect of a more acidic ocean
on every
gene in the coral genome,» says study lead author Dr Aurelie Moya, a molecular ecologist with the ARC Centre
of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University.
Tumours in these mice grew 50 per cent more slowly than those in healthy mice, indicating that one extra copy
of the
gene has a significant
effect on tumour growth (Nature, DOI: 10.1038 / nature08062).
Variants
of one
gene had a major
effect on rapid changes in beak size after a drought, researchers report in the April 22 Science.
The boosted
genes had three main beneficial
effects: improving the efficiency
of mitochondria, the powerhouse
of cells; boosting insulin production, which improves control
of blood sugar; and preventing the depletion
of telomeres, caps
on chromosomes that help to keep DNA stable and so prevent cells wearing out and ageing.
The boosted
genes had three main
effects: improving cellular energy efficiency; upping insulin production, which improves control
of blood sugar; and preventing the breakdown
of caps
on chromosomes that help prevent cells wearing out and ageing.
Next, Anderson and his colleagues used a set
of genetic tools to identify exactly which neurons were responsible for the
effect on aggression and to see if the
gene that encodes for Tk also controls aggressive behavior by acting in that cell.
«So, a variant
of gene with a positive
effect on intelligence, has a negative
effect on schizophrenia, body mass index or obesity.»
The overexpression
of an important
gene that regulates energy metabolism can cause a severe shortening
of lifespan in male fruit flies but has only a small negative
effect on lifespans
of female fruit flies, according to new research from North Carolina State University.
Deletion
of the fission yeastpot1 +
gene has an immediate
effect on chromosome stability, causing rapid loss
of telomeric DNA and chromosome circularization.
These results illustrate a useful approach for studying the
effect of gene expression
on cardiac contractility.
«We hypothesized that individual mutations in viral
genes could be expected to have a range
of effects on the virus's ability to replicate, to infect new cells and escape the immune system,» Carlson says.
The clones also appeared to have an
effect on the
gene expression
of the pregnant cows themselves;
on day 34, some uterus tissue showed grossly different
gene expression, which could affect the placenta.
To find out if this
effect on testosterone production might affect mice's fertility, the team knocked out the
gene for osteocalcin in a group
of the rodents.
To determine the
effect of mutations that reduce TET2 function in abnormal stem cells, the research team genetically engineered mice such that the scientists could switch the TET2
gene on or off.
This study, published in the journal Microarrays, shows that lack
of SOST in the bone microenvironment promotes the expression
of many
genes associated with cell migration and / or invasion, including long non-coding RNA MALAT1 in prostate cancer, suggesting that SOST has an inhibitory
effect on prostate cancer invasion.
By using pairs
of sisters who spent differing amounts
of time living with their fathers, the study was able to control for inherited
genes and environmental conditions, such as socioeconomic status or religious background, to isolate the
effects of fathering quality
on daughters.
They found methylation defects
on several human
genes in the cord blood and placentas
of ART embryos, suggesting that a similar
effect might be occurring in humans as well.
By contrast, the HMS team homed in
on one microbe at a time and its
effects on nearly all immune cells and intestinal
genes, an approach that offers a more precise understanding
of the interplay between individual gut microbes and their hosts.
She and her colleagues interview each
of these women for several hours every 6 months to try to understand the
effects of genes, crime, poverty, and isolation
on their disease outcomes.
Dr Ceri Fielding from Cardiff University's School
of Medicine said: «The scale
of the
effect of CMV's
genes on the immune system surprised us.
These
effects included suppression
of naturally secreted antimicrobials and the ability to turn
on several
genes that promote inflammation.
Before moving
on to human trials, they will need to study all instances
of «off - target»
effects: Years before Crispr, the viruses employed to deliver DNA in
gene therapy trials occasionally damaged the whole system, causing cancer.
Therefore, they must explore the
effects of deactivating it
on the body's ability to fight infections and other diseases — as hampering the
gene's
effects only in red blood cells would be difficult.
Tattersall explains how epigenetic
effects on key
genes cascade to produce radical morphological changes in an eye blink, and why our unusual thinking style, far from being the perfected product
of long - term selective pressures, was bootstrapped out
of existing abilities barely 100,000 years ago.
A version
of the
gene called APOE3 has no
effect on Alzheimer's risk, whereas the APOE2 version protects against the disease.
However, a period
of mid or late gestation exposure had a greater
effect on the development
of the fetus and the number
of altered
genes and proteins in the fetus» ovary.
However, the long - term
effects of the daily bathing
on the prevalence
of the qacA / B
genes that lead to resistance to CHG in MRSA isolates is largely unknown.
The brain - size - altering
effect of the
gene is what led the researchers to study the impact
on IQ.
Pinker says that the findings are a first step in demonstrating that intelligence relies
on large numbers
of genes, each with a tiny
effect, rather than
on single
genes that have moderate or large
effects, but which are so rare that none has yet been identified.
Von Roemeling and the research team then individually silenced each
of the top 200 altered
genes to see the
effect on tumor growth.
They then examined genetic variants throughout the human genome for their
effects on gene expression in these two representative populations
of immune cells.
The researchers found: cord plasma increased the activity
of several
genes linked to neural plasticity and memory; young adult plasma activated a subset
of the same
genes; and older adult plasma had no
effect on gene expression.