Latest Nature Genetics Stories

A gene previously linked to too much growth in patients has now also been linked to growth restriction. Different forms of the gene can lead to very different conditions, according to research published today in the journal Nature Genetics. IMAGe* syndrome is a rare developmental disorder which can affect fetal growth, resulting in smaller than average body and organ size. Without treatment, the disorder can have potentially life-threatening consequences from adrenal gland failure. The...

Novel genetic mutation identified in up to 15 percent of prostate cancer patients, in largest study of its kind A collaborative expedition into the deep genetics of prostate cancer has uncovered a distinct subtype of the disease, one that appears to account for up to 15 percent of all cases, say researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In the study, published online May 20 by the journal Nature Genetics,...

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have identified the genetic variations that are believed to cause osteoporosis. The study, published in Nature Genetics and involving leading researchers from Sweden and the world, shows among other interesting facts that women with a higher proportion of genetic variations associated with osteoporosis have a more than 50 percent increased fracture risk. Osteoporosis is a common and a devastating age-related...

Discovery may create dialogue about DNA and RNA data bank privacy issues Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have developed a method to derive enough DNA information from non-DNA sources—such as RNA—to clearly identify individuals whose biological data are stored in massive research repositories. The approach may raise questions regarding the ability to protect individual identity when high-dimensional data are collected for research purposes. A paper introducing the...

An international team of scientists, led by researchers from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS) in Singapore and National Cancer Centre of Singapore, has identified hundreds of novel genes that are mutated in stomach cancer, the second-most lethal cancer worldwide. The study, which appears online on April 8, 2012 in Nature Genetics, paves the way for treatments tailored to the genetic make-up of individual stomach tumors. Stomach cancer is the second leading cause of cancer...

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers working as part of the International Cystic Fibrosis Consortium have discovered several regions of the genome that may predispose cystic fibrosis (CF) patients to develop an intestinal blockage while still in the uterus. A report of this international study appears online April 1, 2012 in the journal Nature Genetics. It was the work of the North America CF Gene Modifier Consortium, which brought together dozens of investigators from...

Human geneticists have long debated whether the genetic risk of the most common medical conditions derive from many rare mutations, each conferring a high degree of risk in different people, or common differences throughout the genome that modestly influence risk. A new study by Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) researchers has harnessed data and new analysis tools to address this question in four common diseases: rheumatoid arthritis; celiac disease; coronary artery disease and...

Columbia researchers have conducted a study that suggests cells inside intestines could be employed to make insulin for patients with type I diabetes. Previously, researchers considered stem cell transplants to be the only way to replace lost cells inpatients with type I diabetes. Such a discovery could also mean that these patients would be free from daily insulin injections as well. Researchers have been conducting their work on mice and published their results in the journal Nature...

A recent study posted in Nature Genetics explains that researchers have found that Chlamydia has been evolving differently than previously thought. The researchers used whole genome sequencing to find these results. Their findings show the exchange of DNA between different strains of the STD to form new strains is more common than expected. The researchers came about their findings while working with hospitals to improve their testing and detection of Chlamydia, particularly different...