Category Archives: Gene environment interactions

Genes and the environment interacting

‘Eco-anxiety’ over climate change causing stress, panic in millions

Posted on August 29, 2019 by DWN

This article, appearing just today in https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/08/28/, is very appropriate to the recent GEITP emails. The article reaffirms how psychologically serious — especially to the young mind — false propaganda about global warming can be. This article reminds me: not … Continue reading →

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CRISPR/Cas9 Whole-Genome Screen Identifies Genes Required for AHR-Dependent Induction of Functional CYP1A

Posted on August 22, 2019 by DWN

Very central to the topic of gene-environment interactions are endogenous and exogenous “signals,” recognized by the basic-helix/loop/helix (bHLH) transcription factor, aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHH) — followed by activation of numerous genetic and biochemical pathways that represent “responses” to those signals. … Continue reading →

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New alcohol-related genes suggest shared genetic mechanisms with neuropsychiatric disorders

Posted on August 15, 2019 by DWN

Alcoholism is a multifactorial trait that is manifested by genes (genotype), epigenetic factors (epigenome), environmental effects (alcohol consumption, frequently accompanied by smoking), endogenous influences (e.g. eventually heart and liver disease), and probably each person’s microbiome (primarily gut flora; contribution of … Continue reading →

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Gene co-expression network-based analysis of multiple brain tissues reveals novel genes and molecular pathways underlying major depressive disorder (MDD)

Posted on August 7, 2019 by DWN

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a serious mental health disorder with a global lifetime frequency of ~12% (17% of women, 9% of men). MDD is well known to be a very complex multifactorial trait (i.e. contributions from genetics, epigenetic factors, … Continue reading →

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Whole-genome deep-learning analysis identifies contribution of noncoding mutations to autism risk

Posted on July 23, 2019 by DWN

These GEITP pages maintain the theme of gene-environment (GxE) interactions. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has often been included as one of our topics, because this fascinating complex disease is a multifactorial trait — that might include not only GxE interactions, … Continue reading →

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Bacterial death and population dynamics affect mutation-rate estimates and evolvability — in response to ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS

Posted on September 10, 2018 by DWN

The topic today is directly central to “gene-environment interactions.” Three decades ago, experiments in the lab of John Cairns showed that the effect of “environmental stress” on the mutation rate in bacteria can be remarkably strong (the “stress” they used … Continue reading →

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Only certain histone posttranslatinal modifications appear to qualify as “having an epigenetic effect” ???

Posted on September 8, 2018 by DWN

As often covered in these GEITP pages, multifactorial traits (e.g. phenotypes such as type-2 diabetes, drug efficacy, many dose-independent adverse drug reactions, autism spectrum disorder, cancer) represent the contributions of: [a] genetic predisposition (genotype; DNA-sequence changes); [b] epigenetic effects; [c] … Continue reading →

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The prehistoric peopling of Southeast Asia

Posted on September 4, 2018 by DWN

Anatomically modern humans are known to have expanded into Southeast Asia at least 65,000 years ago –– leading to formation of the Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherer tradition. Although Hòabìnhian foragers are considered to be the ancestors of present-day hunter-gatherers from mainland Southeast … Continue reading →

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Induction of innate immune memory: — microRNA targets chromatin-remodeling factors !!

Posted on September 1, 2018 by DWN

Prolonged exposure of mouse or human immune cells to unwanted microbial products –– such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) –– can induce a form of innate immune memory that suppresses subsequent responses to unrelated pathogens. This is called “LPS tolerance”. Sepsis (presence … Continue reading →

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Parallel altitudinal clines reveal trends in adaptive evolution of genome size in domesticated maize (Zea mays)

Posted on August 31, 2018 by DWN

GENOME SIZE varies by several orders of magnitude across species, due to both changes in ploidy (number of sets of homologous chromosomes that make up the genome of a cell or an organism) as well as haploid DNA content (one-half … Continue reading →

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