New method helps link genomic variation to protein production
Scientists have adopted a novel laboratory approach for
determining the effect of genetic variation on the efficiency of
the biological process that translates a gene's DNA sequence
into a protein, such as hemoglobin, according to a presentation,
Nov. 6, at the American Society of Human Genetics 2012 meeting
in San Francisco. "How exactly these slight changes in the DNA
affect the biology of the human body is not known in most
cases," said Constantin Polychronakos, M.D., professor of
pediatrics, experimental medicine and human genetics at McGill
University, Montreal, Canada. "We decided to investigate the
possibility that some of these changes may alter the translation
of RNA into protein, a question that had not been systematically
examined before," he added. Translation is the final stage of
gene expression at which the gene's DNA recipe for a protein can
be modified, said McGill University scientist Quan Li, Ph.D.,
who presented the research. In