Before Or After Birth, Gene Linked To Mental Health Has Different Effects

January 6, 2010

Scientists have long eyed mutations in a gene known as DISC1 as a possible contributor to schizophrenia and mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder…

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A novel genetic variant of BMP2K contributes to high myopia.

November 21, 2009

A novel genetic variant of BMP2K contributes to high myopia.

J Clin Lab Anal. 2009 Nov 19;23(6):362-367

Authors: Liu HP, Lin YJ, Lin WY, Wan L, Sheu JJ, Lin HJ, Tsai Y, Tsai CH, Tsai FJ

Loss of eye growth regulation may cause myopia, because modulation of optic globe size is essential for the generation of normal optic power. Evidence has implied variations of BMP2 gene expression mediate ocular development and retinal tissue remodeling. Given BMP2 as a potential regulator involved in myopia development, we investigate whether gene BMP2-inducible kinase (BMP2K, BIKe), whose expression is up-regulated during BMP2-induced osteoblast differentiation, contributes to susceptibility of high myopia. Participants grouped into high myopia had a spherical equivalent greater than -6.00 D, compared with a control group of spherical equivalent less than -0.5 D. Genotyping of polymorphisms 1379 G/A (rs2288255) and 3171 C/G (rs12507099), corresponding with 405 Gly/Ser and 1002 Thr/Ser variation in the BMP2K gene were determined by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism and associative study performed by comparing high myopic subjects and healthy controls. The frequency of A allele in the BMP2K gene 1379 G/A polymorphism showed a significant difference between cases and controls (P<0.001, OR=2.99, 95% CI=1.62-5.54) and subjects with either AA or AG genotype show higher risk than GG genotype (P<0.001, OR=3.07, 95% CI=1.59-5.92), while 3171 C/G polymorphism was not significant from this survey. These data suggest that BMP2K gene 1379 G/A variant is strongly correlated with high myopia and may contribute to a genetic risk factor for high degrees of myopic pathogenesis. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 23:362-367, 2009. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PMID: 19927351 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Exercise blocks effect of fat gene

September 9, 2008

If you’re fat, maybe you CAN blame your genes. But there’s a way to overcome that family history — just get three to four hours of moderate activity a day.

Sound pretty daunting?

Not for the Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who were the focus of a new study on a common genetic variation that makes people more likely to gain weight. It turns out the variant’s effects can be blocked with physical activity — lots of it.

…people with the genetic variant were no more likely to be overweight than those who had the regular version of the gene — as long as they got three to four hours of moderate activity every day. That included things like brisk walking, housecleaning and gardening.

Read the complete article…

Keywords: gene, genetic, exercise, obesity, amish, Joel Hirschhorn, Soren Snitker, Amy Zlot, University of Maryland, Children’s Hospital Boston, Oregon Department of Human Services,

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Meditation, Yoga Might Switch Off Stress Genes

July 7, 2008

Researchers say they’ve taken a significant stride forward in understanding how relaxation techniques such as meditation, prayer and yoga improve health: by changing patterns of gene activity that affect how the body responds to stress.

The changes were seen both in long-term practitioners and in newer recruits, the scientists said.

“It’s not all in your head,” said Dr. Herbert Benson, president emeritus of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind/Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “What we have found is that when you evoke the relaxation response, the very genes that are turned on or off by stress are turned the other way. The mind can actively turn on and turn off genes. The mind is not separated from the body.”

Read the complete article by HealthDay Reporter, Amanda Gardner …

Keywords: meditation, yoga, gene, stress, relaxation response

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The Ghost in Your Genes

May 31, 2008

Biology stands on the brink of a shift in the understanding of inheritance. The discovery of epigenetics – hidden influences upon the genes – could affect every aspect of our lives.

At the heart of this new field is a simple but contentious idea – that genes have a ‘memory’. That the lives of your grandparents – the air they breathed, the food they ate, even the things they saw – can directly affect you, decades later, despite your never experiencing these things yourself. And that what you do in your lifetime could in turn affect your grandchildren.

Read the full article at www.bbc.co.uk

Keywords: epigenetic, gene, genetic, dna, rna

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DNA Is Not Destiny

May 31, 2008

The new science of epigenetics rewrites the rules of disease, heredity, and identity.

Back in 2000, Randy Jirtle, a professor of radiation oncology at Duke University, and his postdoctoral student Robert Waterland designed a groundbreaking genetic experiment that was simplicity itself. They started with pairs of fat yellow mice known to scientists as agouti mice, so called because they carry a particular gene—the agouti gene—that in addition to making the rodents ravenous and yellow renders them prone to cancer and diabetes. Jirtle and Waterland set about to see if they could change the unfortunate genetic legacy of these little creatures.

Typically, when agouti mice breed, most of the offspring are identical to the parents: just as yellow, fat as pincushions, and susceptible to life-shortening disease. The parent mice in Jirtle and Waterland’s experiment, however, produced a majority of offspring that looked altogether different. These young mice were slender and mousy brown. Moreover, they did not display their parents’ susceptibility to cancer and diabetes and lived to a spry old age. The effects of the agouti gene had been virtually erased.

Read the complete article by Ethan Watters…

Source: Discover Magazine http://discovermagazine.com

Keywords: epigenetic, gene, genetic, dna, rna, lipton

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