Imagine a million young men
with identical genes, identical scraggly little beards, hearing on their identical answering machines that a million other identical men may or may not have gotten fresh with their million identical sisters.
Not exact matches
Even if Noah impregnated all of them at once, or his sons did their respective wives, and then they all repeated the process 14 years later (give or take) when the 1st offspring became fertile, how could different races
with distinct physiological adaptation arise from such a small, virtually
identical gene pool 4,000 years ago?
Unlike
identicals, the
genes of fraternals are as different as any other sibling
with the same parents.
Although
genes are recognized as influencing behavior and cognition, «genetically
identical» does not mean altogether
identical; almost no one would deny that
identical twins, despite being natural human clones
with identical DNA, are separate people,
with separate experiences and not altogether overlapping personalities.
Identical twins — who share the same
genes — reported similar experiences, while fraternal twins,
with some different sets of
genes, often differed in their responses.
Even patients
with identical genetic backgrounds could experience different clinical outcomes based on their DNA features that activate
genes differently.
Michele Carbone and colleagues, from the University of Hawaii, discovered that members of 4 families, apparently unrelated and living in different US States, shared the
identical mutation of a
gene called BAP1 that is associated
with a higher incidence of mesothelioma, melanoma, renal carcinoma and other cancers.
Bacteria expressing enzyme in one cell (bright green), while genetically
identical cells do not, remaining protected from antibiotic onslaught; image courtesy of Yuichi Wakamoto / Neeraj Dhar / John McKinney Some strains of nasty bacterial infections, such as MRSA (methicillin - resistant Staphylococcus aureus), come loaded
with resistance to antibiotics built right into their
genes.
In this technique, the otherwise harmless viruses are loaded
with «vaccine»
genes that make proteins
identical to those in an infectious organism.
The ideal way to identify a
gene network in humans would require an impossible experiment: Take two families, each
with dozens of
identical twins, and have the families interbreed, combining the same sets of
genes together over and over again.
The absence of a single
gene tree
identical to the avian species tree is consistent
with studies in yeast (82), indicating that phylogenetic studies based on one or several
genes, especially for rapid radiations, will probably be insufficient.
Insofar, the results are also relevant for humans: 85 % of the long - lived rodents»
genes are
identical to human DNA, but in contrast to humans that are rather prone to illness, long - lived rodents have a very low risk to come down
with age - related diseases.
In a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics,
Gene H. Brody, the study's lead author and co-director of the UGA Center for Family Research, and his colleagues used MRI scans to examine the brain development of 59 adults who participated in SAAF at age 11
with 57 adults from nearly
identical backgrounds who did not.
In brown bears, the sequence of this
gene varies from one bear to another, but all the polar bears surveyed have an
identical version,
with the exact same genetic code at nine variable spots in the
gene, about half of which should change the function of the APOB protein.
The database was developed by
identical twin brothers, Obi Griffith, PhD, and Malachi Griffith, PhD, whose interest in pairing drugs
with genes is as much personal as it is scientific.
The Swedish Twin Registry has enabled her to compare
identical twins, who share 100 % of their
genes,
with fraternal twins, whose genetic makeups are no more similar to each other than any pair of siblings.
Studies that compare genetically
identical twins
with fraternal twins — who only share half of their twin's DNA — help distinguish the effects of
genes from the effects of shared environmental factors such as housing, schooling and childhood nutrition.
And curious as to how widespread this phenomenon might be, the researchers looked for protein families
with nearly
identical members that are encoded by different
genes and had significant variations in ribosome density across the family.
The researchers also suggest that because the Y can not exchange
genes with the X chromosome anymore, it uses other unusual ways to reconfigure its DNA, such as recombining
with itself to add on new segments of
identical DNA — or palindromes — into its genome.
-- 90 percent of
genes associated
with disease are
identical in the human and the mouse, supporting the use of mice as model organisms.
from the University of Washington reported a surprising finding - when delivered via AAV infection,
gene targeting vectors
with relatively short (1 kb) homology arms underwent homologous recombination at a frequency three orders of magnitude higher than
identical targeting vectors delivered through transfection of naked DNA
In that year, Russell and Hirata from the University of Washington reported a surprising finding - when delivered via AAV infection,
gene targeting vectors
with relatively short (1 kb) homology arms underwent homologous recombination at a frequency three orders of magnitude higher than
identical targeting vectors delivered through transfection of naked DNA.
The y - axis shows the percentage of sequences within each subset
with identical residues to each VHH at each individual CDR3 position (and the preceeding three V
gene residues − 1, − 2, − 3 = CAT / CNA) indicated on the x-axis.
Because twin studies show approximately a 50 % risk of developing schizophrenia in
identical twins (meaning siblings
with exactly the same
genes), environment must have significant influence in the brain disorder.
All people have two copies of every
gene, and earlier work by the researchers on
identical twins
with leukemia indicates that a second genetic alteration - involving the second copy of the TEL
gene, one of the two so - called «alleles» — occurs post-natally to actually nudge blood cells into a leukemic state.
The vaccine, which was developed by the Vaccine Research Center (VRC), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), is a 6 - plasmid mixture encoding HIV envelope subtypes A, B, and C and subtype B gag, pol, and nef, and an rAd5 expressing
identical genes,
with the exception of nef.
A more advanced experiment uses «single - worm PCR» to examine the mechanism of RNAi - comparing the DNA of worms
with identical phenotypes induced either by RNAi or a
gene mutation.
Using
gene expression variance and discordance between genetically
identical MZ twin pairs, we identify 137
genes with age - related changes in variance and 42
genes with age - related discordance between co-twins; implying the latter are driven by environmental effects.
Though isolates were
identical by laboratory typing methods, we uncovered many differences in their genomes, in
gene expression, and in their interactions
with host cells.
Intriguingly, an
identical homozygous mutation was identified in a human patient
with recessive retinitis pigmentosa, the human equivalent of PRA, and established the novel retinal
gene, PRCD, as an important
gene for the maintenance of rod photoreceptor structure and function across species.
In evaluating the hips of dogs genetically predisposed to dysplasia, certain factors could make the hips in the leg - extended radiographs appear worse, compared to another dog
with presumably the same
genes for hip joint construction, such as a littermate or a dog
with otherwise near -
identical genotype yet reared differently.
The discovery that concordance (similarity between siblings) for divorce among adults is higher among
identical than fraternal twins suggests that
genes may predispose some people to engage in behaviors that increase the risk of divorce.58 If parents» personality traits and other genetically transmitted predispositions are causes of single parenthood as well as childhood problems, then the apparent effects on children of growing up
with a single parent are spurious.