Science - Genetics latest news

Scientists have made a step towards understanding how genes and the environment influence social behavior by learning about the numbers and types of genes that control social organization in fire ant colonies. These results are published in an article released on July 17, 2008 in the open access journal PLoS Genetics.

Some people may be naturally resistant to infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The results of a study conducted by Dr. Nicole Bernard of the Research Institute of the McGill university Health Centre (MUHC) bring us closer to a genetic explanation. Her study findings were published on July 16 in the journal AIDS.

A report published on July 18 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics describes a new approach to fighting cancer. Researchers have located a new type of ultrasensitive genes that seem to control the way cancer expresses itself (cancer-associated phenotypes). It is possible that the growth and survival or tumors and other disease-causing agents may be thwarted if drugs are developed that can target these genes. Dr. Patrick Tan, M.D., Ph.D.

People with certain common genetic variations that affect their nicotine receptors seem to be at higher risk for becoming life-long nicotine addicts if they begin smoking before they turn 17, a new study says.

A group of Canadian and European researchers have unlocked the mystery of a gene with the potential to regulate and block ovulation. The new study - a collaboration between the Universite de Montreal in Canada and the Institut de génetique et biologie moléculaire et cellulaire of the Université de Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France - is published in the current issue of the journal Genes & Development.

A genetic variant found almost exclusively in individuals of Asian descent increases the risk of elevated triglycerides over four-fold, reports a comprehensive study in the August Journal of Lipid Research. In fact, all 11 subjects who carried both copies of this rare variant for apolipoprotein A-V had extremely high and dangerous triglyceride levels in their blood.

It's not environment or genetics that determine a predisposition toward delinquent behavior in adolescents, it's the combination of the two, say scientists who seem to have proof of the phenomenon.

New research suggests that people of African descent are much more likely to have a genetic trait that makes them more susceptible to infection with the HIV virus.

Asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy and its relationship with gene IFT80 have been added to Genetics Home Reference. Web links to MedlinePlus, patient support web sites, ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed, and OMIM are included.

Gorlin syndrome and its relationship with gene PTCH1 have been added to Genetics Home Reference. Web links to MedlinePlus, NIH publications, patient support web sites, Gene Reviews, Gene Tests, ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed, and OMIM are included.