Baby Buddha
Banned via Administration
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/10831.html
Although each human being shares some kind of genetic makeup with each other, there are also some differences in their genetic makeup which make each person unique. These differences were assumed to be little and humans were believed to be 99.9 percent identical to each other in terms of genomes.
However, a new research carried out by scientists has shown that there is much more difference in the genetic profile of each individual person, than was believed until now. In what could be called a path-breaking genetic discovery, the scientists have shown that whole chunks of DNA can either be duplicated or be missing between individuals.
The findings also suggest that humans are more likely to be 99 percent identical, rather than 99.9 percent identical as was previously believed. Also, our DNA is more different from our closest living relative - the chimpanzee than previously thought, which makes us 96 percent closer to them, rather than 99 percent. The findings could also lead to major impact on research into the cause and cure of diseases that afflict humans, and why some people are more prone to certain diseases.
Up to now it was believed that each individual person carries two sets of each gene, one from each parent. However, the researchers found that a person's DNA can carry many copies of one or more genes, or have some genes missing. The number of copies that each individual carries can differ between person to person.
This could account for the physical and mental differences between people. These extra copies or missing copies of genes are called copy number variants (CNVs). The researchers believe that some of these multiple or missing copies of key genes may be responsible for triggering many diseases, as well as making some people more susceptible to many diseases.
270 people of Asian, European and African ancestry across four different locations – Japan, China, Utah and Nigeria were involved in the study in which scientists analyzed their genetic material. They found 1447 CNV's or genetic regions either deleted or duplicated, which suggested that the genetic variation among humans is approximately 12 percent of his genome. They also found that some genes were copied more times in people of a particular descent.
For example, people of African descent had many copies of a particular gene called CCL3L1, which is supposed to give resistance against HIV. Similarly people of South- east Asian descent had many copies of another gene, supposed to give resistance against Malaria.
Matthew Hurles, PhD, who was one of the study leaders, at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, England said: "Each one of us has a unique pattern of gains and losses of complete sections of DNA. We now appreciate the immense contribution of this phenomenon to genetic differences between individuals."
"One of the real surprises of these results was just how much of our DNA varies in copy number. We estimate this to be at least 12 per cent of the genome - that has never been shown before. The copy number variation that researchers had seen before was simply the tip of the iceberg, while the bulk lay submerged, undetected," said Dr Hurles.
Co-principal investigator, Dr. Stephen Scherer, PhD, of Canada's University of Toronto, and Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children said: "We used to think that if you had big changes like this, then they must be involved in disease. But we are showing that we can all have these changes." "We didn't know about this form of variation two years ago," he said.
"And now for the first time we've got a catalogue of information and we've been able to understand the properties of this new type of variation. So then we can really focus our studies and apply this information to genetic disease studies."
43 researchers from 13 research centres across the world including United States, Canada, Europe and Japan worked on the study. The study details have been published in Nature and its associated journals - Nature Genetics and Genome Research.
Although each human being shares some kind of genetic makeup with each other, there are also some differences in their genetic makeup which make each person unique. These differences were assumed to be little and humans were believed to be 99.9 percent identical to each other in terms of genomes.
However, a new research carried out by scientists has shown that there is much more difference in the genetic profile of each individual person, than was believed until now. In what could be called a path-breaking genetic discovery, the scientists have shown that whole chunks of DNA can either be duplicated or be missing between individuals.
The findings also suggest that humans are more likely to be 99 percent identical, rather than 99.9 percent identical as was previously believed. Also, our DNA is more different from our closest living relative - the chimpanzee than previously thought, which makes us 96 percent closer to them, rather than 99 percent. The findings could also lead to major impact on research into the cause and cure of diseases that afflict humans, and why some people are more prone to certain diseases.
Up to now it was believed that each individual person carries two sets of each gene, one from each parent. However, the researchers found that a person's DNA can carry many copies of one or more genes, or have some genes missing. The number of copies that each individual carries can differ between person to person.
This could account for the physical and mental differences between people. These extra copies or missing copies of genes are called copy number variants (CNVs). The researchers believe that some of these multiple or missing copies of key genes may be responsible for triggering many diseases, as well as making some people more susceptible to many diseases.
270 people of Asian, European and African ancestry across four different locations – Japan, China, Utah and Nigeria were involved in the study in which scientists analyzed their genetic material. They found 1447 CNV's or genetic regions either deleted or duplicated, which suggested that the genetic variation among humans is approximately 12 percent of his genome. They also found that some genes were copied more times in people of a particular descent.
For example, people of African descent had many copies of a particular gene called CCL3L1, which is supposed to give resistance against HIV. Similarly people of South- east Asian descent had many copies of another gene, supposed to give resistance against Malaria.
Matthew Hurles, PhD, who was one of the study leaders, at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, England said: "Each one of us has a unique pattern of gains and losses of complete sections of DNA. We now appreciate the immense contribution of this phenomenon to genetic differences between individuals."
"One of the real surprises of these results was just how much of our DNA varies in copy number. We estimate this to be at least 12 per cent of the genome - that has never been shown before. The copy number variation that researchers had seen before was simply the tip of the iceberg, while the bulk lay submerged, undetected," said Dr Hurles.
Co-principal investigator, Dr. Stephen Scherer, PhD, of Canada's University of Toronto, and Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children said: "We used to think that if you had big changes like this, then they must be involved in disease. But we are showing that we can all have these changes." "We didn't know about this form of variation two years ago," he said.
"And now for the first time we've got a catalogue of information and we've been able to understand the properties of this new type of variation. So then we can really focus our studies and apply this information to genetic disease studies."
43 researchers from 13 research centres across the world including United States, Canada, Europe and Japan worked on the study. The study details have been published in Nature and its associated journals - Nature Genetics and Genome Research.
