A four-amino-acid exon shapes brain circuits—and may be key to autism, ADHD, and mental health. #Neuroscience #Genetics #BrainHealth
https://geekoo.news/a-four-amino-acid-code-that-shapes-the-brain/
I’m now going to tell my friends that I’m about one-quarter mesquite tree:
"You and the tree in your backyard come from a common ancestor. A billion and a half years ago, the two of you parted ways. But even now, after an immense journey in separate directions, that tree and you still share a quarter of your genes." - The Overstory by Richard Powers
"By providing patients and their families with a rapid clinical diagnosis, the patient has a greater chance at survival as they can begin treatment far sooner, if available," said senior study author Professor David Thorburn of Murdoch Children's Research Institute.
23andMe and its user data will soon belong to a pharmaceutical giant
the purchase will further the company’s “large-scale genetics research” into future drugs and treatments.
#Regeneron #BigPharma #23andMe #DNA #genetics #business #bankruptcy #infosec #data #bigdata #privacy #biotech
https://www.theverge.com/news/669548/23andme-bankruptcy-auction-regeneron-purchase
Men can lose their Y chromosome in some cells and it makes them more prone to illness?!?
Still new things to learn.
From new scientist 3 may 2025
What’s so special about orange cats? Turns out they’re freaks of nature
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/23/science/orange-cats-genetic-mutation
#goodnews #Science #health #hospital #crispr #genetics #research #Philadelphia #Pennsylvania
Infant With Incurable Disease is First to Successfully Receive Personalized Gene Therapy Treatment
Adopted and donor-conceived children were way less likely to confound nature and nurture than traditionally-conceived kids (ages 4 to 8).
And this difference wasn’t explained by differences in parents.
Here's the free preprint (otherwise paywalled in Developmental Psychology): https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/3e8rj
**Medieval genomes from eastern Iberia illuminate the role of Morisco mass deportations in dismantling a long-standing genetic bridge with North Africa**
“_For the first time, we also demonstrate the persistence of North African ancestry in a Christian cemetery until the seventeenth century, in addition to evidence of slave trafficking from North Africa._”
Oteo-Garcia, G., Silva, M., Foody, M.G.B. et al. Medieval genomes from eastern Iberia illuminate the role of Morisco mass deportations in dismantling a long-standing genetic bridge with North Africa. Genome Biol 26, 108 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-025-03570-1.
#OpenAccess #OA #Research #Biology #Science #Archaeology #Archaeodons #Genetics #Genomes #History #Medieval #Iberia #Academia #Academics @science @archaeodons
@ApostateEnglishman
Touché! I meant only to speak to Snowden's quote, for a violent extinction of Homo Neanderthalis probably would be biological racism, but I think there are any number of other things that their extinction could have been, like disease-burden or out-breeding.
You're right of course, the Peri-Mediterraneans were pretty cool about most things. I think they might have thought slightly ill of left-handed people.
If Snowden is making sweeping statements about "the ancients" though, I think a careful tread is advisable, if I'm right to suspect that the "ancient" Sumerians would think someone with pale skin to be sickly and frail, and the "ancient" Chinese would associate darker skin tones to be associated with manual labour.
To be explicit: (1). this has no bearing on your long held and doubtless correct view, and (2). I am *wildly* outside my wheel-house here; and I'm only really saying that such sweeping terms of generalisation make one's quotes less useful. I can't imagine Snowden cares one jot about my criticism, though! 
In other words, if mom or dad has a major immune or stress event, it can result in changes that could potentially result in baby being autistic. And it makes biological/evolutionary sense to do this, if we consider the potential behavioral protection against disease and parasites that arise from autistic traits.
https://neurosciencenews.com/dna-methylation-serotonin-asd-29112/
Of *course* we have "abnormal" methylation of certain genes. /s
That aside, this article appeared relatively low on ableist language. My biggest reason for sharing it:
"Notably, immune activation and exposure to stress hormones are known to alter neuronal activity in the dorsal raphe (DR, a region of the brain involved in serotonin signaling), contributing to ASD development."
#ActuallyAutistic
#autism
#AutismResearch
#genetics
#methylation
@actuallyautistic
If anybody else is interested in digging into the genetics of autism, you might find this of interest:
Blood test developed that could speed up diagnosis of rare diseases in babies https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/23/blood-test-could-speed-diagnosis-rare-diseases-babies #Medicalresearch #Worldnews #Genetics #Science #Health
Here's the thing about rainbow lorikeets. They are endemic across the east coast of Australia. From the tip of Cape York down to somewhere in Victoria. At any given point, rainbow lorikeets can easily and successfully breed with their neighbours. BUT! Take a rainbow lorikeet from Cairns and put it with a sexy lorikeet from Sydney, and they will not produce viable offspring. I can't remember what it's called, genetic drift or something.
This random fact brought to you by the following sponsors:
* The rainbow lorikeets making a noise outside my window
* Autism
* Absolut vodka
Mediterranean eating habits help European children fight genetic obesity risk https://www.diningandcooking.com/2084994/mediterranean-eating-habits-help-european-children-fight-genetic-obesity-risk/ #children #diet #Genetic #Genetics #Mediterranean #MediterraneanDiet #Nucleotide #obesity #OliveOil #Vegetables
2025 Molecular Ecology Prize goes to Rosemary Gillespie, for harnessing molecular phylogenetics to understand community assembly and ecology
