Over the course of the pandemic, scientists have been monitoring emerging genetic changes to Sars-Cov-2. Mutations occur naturally as the virus replicates but if they confer an advantage – like being more transmissible – that variant of the virus may go on to proliferate. This was the case with the ‘UK’ or B117 variant, which is about 50% more contagious and is rapidly spreading around the country. So how does genetic surveillance of the virus work? And what do we know about the new variants? Ian Sample speaks to Dr Jeffrey Barrett, the director of the Covid-19 genomics initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, to find out
Continue reading...Category Archives: Genetics
How race to track mystery gene with links to three cancers saved millions
25 years ago, a mutation was discovered that makes some people susceptible to the disease, and now it has transformed treatment
Ten years ago, Tony Herbert developed a lump on the right side of his chest. The clump of tissue grew and became painful and he was tested for breast cancer. The result was positive.
“I had surgery and chemotherapy and that worked,” he said last week. But how had Herbert managed to develop a condition that is so rare in men? Only about 400 cases of male breast cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK compared with around 55,000 in women. A genetic test revealed the answer. Herbert had inherited a pathogenic version of a gene called BRCA2 and this mutation had triggered his condition.
Continue reading...The vaccine miracle: how scientists waged the battle against Covid-19
We trace the extraordinary research effort, from the discovery of the virus’s structure to the start of inoculations this week
In the early afternoon of 3 January this year, a small metal box was delivered to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre addressed to virus expert Prof Zhang Yongzhen. Inside, packed in dry ice, were swabs from a patient who was suffering from a novel, occasionally fatal respiratory illness that was sweeping the city of Wuhan. Exactly what was causing terrifying rises in case numbers, medical authorities wanted to know? And how was the disease being spread?
Related: ‘I worked so hard in the lab. I cried when the news came’
Continue reading...Neanderthal genes increase risk of serious Covid-19, study claims
Strand of DNA inherited by modern humans is linked to likelihood of falling severely ill
Modern humans and Neanderthals could be forgiven for having other issues on their minds when they interbred in the stone age. But according to researchers, those ancient couplings laid a grim foundation for deaths around the world today.
Scientists have claimed that a strand of DNA that triples the risk of developing severe Covid-19 was passed on from Neanderthals to modern humans. The genetic endowment, a legacy from more than 50,000 years ago, has left about 16% of Europeans and half of South Asians today carrying these genes.
Continue reading...Dark hair was common among Vikings, genetic study confirms
Research reveals Vikings were genetically diverse group and not purely Scandinavian
They may have had a reputation for trade, braids and fearsome raids, but the Vikings were far from a single group of flaxen-haired, sea-faring Scandinavians.
A genetic study of Viking-age human remains has not only confirmed that Vikings from different parts of Scandinavia set sail for different parts of the world, but has revealed that dark hair was more common among Vikings than Danes today.
Continue reading...Lords seek to allow gene-editing in UK ‘to produce healthy, hardier crops’
Changes could introduce gluten-free wheat and disease-resistant fruit and vegetables, say peers
Peers are preparing plans to legalise the gene-editing of crops in England, a move that scientists say would offer the nation a chance to develop and grow hardier, more nutritious varieties. The legislation would also open the door to gene-editing of animals.
Continue reading...Mystery of lifespan gap between sexes may be solved, say researchers
Study finds chromosomes offer clue to longer life of different sexes in different species
From humans to black-tailed prairie dogs, female mammals often outlive males – but for birds, the reverse is true.
Now researchers say they have cracked the mystery, revealing that having two copies of the same sex chromosome is associated with having a longer lifespan, suggesting the second copy offers a protective effect.
Continue reading...Top geneticist ‘should resign’ over his team’s laboratory fraud
Professor responsible for ‘reckless’ failure to properly oversee researchers
A row over scientific fraud at the highest level of British academia has led to calls for one of the country’s leading geneticists and highest-paid university chiefs to leave his posts.
David Latchman, professor of genetics at University College London and master of Birkbeck, University of London – a post that earns him £380,000 a year – has angered senior academics by presiding over a laboratory that published fraudulent research, mostly on genetics and heart disease, for more than a decade. The number of fabricated results and the length of time over which the deception took place made the case one of the worst instances of research fraud uncovered in a British university.
Continue reading...Who’s the daddy? Paternity mixed up in cities, study finds
Illegitimacy more likely over past 500 years among urban poor, say geneticists
The Romans had a phrase that summed it up nicely: mater semper certa est, pater semper incertus est. The mother is always certain, the father is always uncertain.
Now, researchers have found that some people have more reason to doubt their fathers than others, or at least have had over the past half millennium.
Continue reading...New gene editing tool could fix most harmful DNA mutations
‘Prime editing’ more precise than Crispr-Cas9, but still needs time before use on humans
Scientists have raised fresh hopes for treating people with genetic disorders by inventing a powerful new molecular tool that, in principle, can correct the vast majority of mutations that cause human genetic diseases.
The procedure, named “prime editing”, can mend about 89% of the 75,000 or so harmful mutations known to mangle the human genome and lead to conditions such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anaemia, and a nerve-destroying illness called Tay-Sachs disease.
Continue reading...Copy cats: pet-cloning in China – in pictures
As Chinese spending on pets increases by up to 27% year on year, a Beijing firm has created its first cloned kitten
Continue reading...Scientists quash idea of single ‘gay gene’
Many genetic variants each play role in homosexual behaviour, study finds
A vast new study has quashed the idea that a single “gay gene” exists, scientists say, instead finding homosexual behaviour is influenced by a multitude of genetic variants which each have a tiny effect.
The researchers compare the situation to factors determining a person’s height, in which multiple genetic and environmental factors play roles.
Continue reading...Farmers jailed in Australia for smuggling Danish pig semen in shampoo bottles
Two men from GD Pork pleaded guilty in WA to breaching biosecurity laws to gain ‘unfair’ breeding advantage
Two pig farmers in Western Australia will be jailed after being convicted of illegally importing Danish pig semen concealed in shampoo bottles.
Torben Soerensen has been sentenced to three years in prison, while Henning Laue faces a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to breaching quarantine and biosecurity laws.
Continue reading...Mosquito-killing spider juice offers malaria hope
Scientists have genetically modified a fungus to make it produce the same lethal toxin as is found in the funnel web spider
A genetically modified fungus that kills malaria-carrying mosquitoes could provide a breakthrough in the fight against the disease, according to researchers.
Trials in Burkina Faso found that a fungus, modified so that it produces spider toxin, quickly killed large numbers of mosquitos that carry malaria.
Continue reading...DNA test proves former care worker is entitled to £50m country estate
Jordan Adlard Rogers inherits 1,536-acre Cornwall estate after proving owner was his father
A former care worker has inherited a £50m country estate after a DNA test proved he was the son of its deceased owner.
Jordan Adlard Rogers, 31, found out his father was the aristocrat Charles Rogers after his death in 2018 and has now moved into the 1,536-acre Penrose estate in Cornwall, which his family has lived in for generations.
Continue reading...Cambridge scientists create world’s first living organism with fully redesigned DNA
Researchers create altered synthetic genome, in move with potential medical benefits
Scientists have created the world’s first living organism that has a fully synthetic and radically altered DNA code.
The lab-made microbe, a strain of bacteria that is normally found in soil and the human gut, is similar to its natural cousins but survives on a smaller set of genetic instructions.
Continue reading...Crusader armies were remarkably genetically diverse, study finds
DNA research adds to evidence soldiers heading east struck up relationships with locals
Crusader armies were made up of people from remarkably genetically diverse backgrounds, hailing not just from western Europe but also much further east, according to a new study that gives unprecedented insight into the fighters’ lives.
The Crusades to the Holy Land were spread over two centuries, with many Europeans heading east to fight, and others turning up to trade.
Continue reading...Baby with DNA from three people born in Greece
Experimental IVF, which involves extra egg from female donor, criticised by UK experts
A baby with DNA from three people has been born in Greece following a controversial fertility treatment.
The baby boy, weighing 2.9kg (6lb), was born on Tuesday and both he and his mother, who is 32, are said to be in good health.
Continue reading...Gene therapy could treat rare brain disorder in unborn babies
Doctors could use Crispr tool to inject benign virus into foetus’s brain to ‘switch on’ key genes
Scientists are developing a radical form of gene therapy that could cure a devastating medical disorder by mending mutations in the brains of foetuses in the womb.
The treatment, which has never been attempted before, would involve doctors injecting the feotus’s brain with a harmless virus that infects the neurons and delivers a suite of molecules that correct the genetic faults.
Continue reading...DNA discoverer James Watson loses honors over views on race
New York laboratory cuts ties with 90-year-old scientist who helped discover DNA, revoking all titles and honors
A New York laboratory has cut ties with James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who helped discover DNA, over “reprehensible” comments in which he said race and intelligence are connected.
Related: Interview: James Watson
Continue reading...