Studies find gene variants linked to blood cholesterol levels
Two new studies published in Nature have found...
BioNews
Trait
A distinguishing characteristic or quality of an organism.
100 articles
Personality traits can predict fertility, scientists claim
Reproductive success of both males and females is linked to common personality traits, particularly neuroticism, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)....
Book Review: Choosing Tomorrow's Children - The Ethics of Selective Reproduction
To what extent is it permissible for people to choose for or against certain desired characteristics in their future children? There's a range of ways in which we might do this - for example, we might attempt to insert or delete a particular gene into or from a gamete prior to conception, or we might choose embryo C from the petri-dish over embryos A, B and D...
Study suggests gene linked to credit card debt
Our genetic make-up may influence the likelihood of running into debt, UK and US researchers have found, according to the LSE research magazine....
Gene-ecology interactions and psychological disorders
The models emerging from behavioural biology are increasingly sophisticated. They do not undermine the quest for candidate genes, but rather augment our understanding of why those genes might persist in populations and be differentially expressed across circumstances....
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
Are genetic markers helpful in understanding psychological disorders?
In their concluding remarks, all three speakers said the answer to the question implicit in the event's title - if you are genetically predisposed to a neurodevelopmental disorder, does this effectively mean you are marked for life? - is an emphatic 'no'. Nonetheless, they had divergent views on the likelihood of successfully applying the fruits of genetic research into mental health...
Are there 'genes for' traits?
It's hard to avoid press stories about 'the gene for' something, because they appear with monotonous regularity. On the day I wrote this, the media reported the discovery of a 'gene for longevity'. The story clearly implied that lifespan is pretty much fixed at conception - contradicting stories elsewhere in the paper...
IVF technique is overused, says its inventor
An IVF technique whereby fertilisation is achieved by injecting an individual sperm into an egg cell is being overused and may pass on infertility to the next generation, the scientist who developed the technique has warned...
US company offers parents home testing for inheritable genetic diseases
A company in the US is offering potential parents the chance to test whether their future offspring might develop serious health problems by selling them home genetic test kits. Counsyl allows customers to send a saliva sample via the post, which is used in conjunction with DNA chip technology to screen if the person is a carrier for a single genetic mutation known to cause a disease. If both parents carry the same mutation,...
New genetic markers for diabetes-related traits uncovered
An international team of 174 research centres has identified 13 new gene variants associated with blood glucose and insulin, with five linked to Type-2 diabetes. The findings - published last week in the journal Nature Genetics -raise hopes of better treatments for the condition....