- New map breaks away from the old way of studying genes one at a time
- It does this by showing how genes interact with each other in groups
- Researchers hope it will shed light on the genetic roots of diseases
Abigail Beall For Mailonline
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Genetic interaction occurs when two or more mutations in genes interact to produce an unexpected characteristic – with one affecting the other.
For example, two mutations, that would not be lethal by themselves, can combine to cause the death of a cell.
But the process by which genes and their mutations interact with each other is complex – as some are more likely to interact than others.
Now researchers from the University of Toronto have created the world’s first map that shows how genes in a cell interact.
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Now researchers from the University of Toronto created the world’s first map that shows how genes in a cell interact. This study, published in the journal Science, paves the way for a new way to study how genes contribute to diseases. The cell map is shown
This paper, published in the journal Science, paves the way for a new way to study how genes contribute to diseases – by looking at the effect of more than one gene at a time.
‘Genome sequencing projects are providing an unprecedented view of genetic variation, the authors said in the study.
But our ability to predict the characteristics derived from genetic information is made more challenging because of genomes that are not essential to survival, they said.
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THE GENE MAP
Genetic interaction occurs when two or more mutations in genes interact to produce an unexpected characteristic – with one affecting the other.
For example two mutations, that would not be lethal by themselves, can combine to cause the death of a cell.
But the process by which genes and their mutations interact with each other is complex – as some are more likely to interact than others.
Now researchers from the University of Toronto have created the world’s first map that shows how genes in a cell interact.
‘We’ve created a reference guide for how to chart genetic interactions in a cell,’ said Michael Costanzo, a research associate who worked on the study.
‘We can now tell what kind of properties to look for in searching for highly connected genes in human genetic networks with the potential to impact genetic diseases.’
A study on yeast ten years ago found only one in five genes were essential to its survival.
Since then, research has found a fraction of our genes are essential in human cells too – most genes are ‘buffered’ to protect the cell from mutations and environmental stresses.
This makes it difficult when trying to work out which genes are responsible for certain phenotypes, particularly when interactions occur.
‘Our ability to interpret genetic information to predict inherited phenotypes remains limited,’ the authors said, ‘in large part due to the extensive buffering of genomes, making most individual eukaryotic genes dispensable for life.’
The researchers used yeast genetics to develop their genetic network.
Genes with similar genetic interaction profiles are connected in a global network.
In the network, genes exhibiting more similar profiles are closer to each other, whereas genes with less similar profiles are positioned farther apart.
‘We’ve created a reference guide for how to chart genetic interactions in a cell,’ said Michael Costanzo, a research associate who worked on the study.
DNA (or deoxyribonucleic acid) is the molecule that carries the genetic information in all cellular forms of life and some viruses. The map begins to explain how thousands of genes coordinate with one another to orchestrate cellular life
The map begins to explain how thousands of genes coordinate with one another to orchestrate cellular life.
‘We can now tell what kind of properties to look for in searching for highly connected genes in human genetic networks with the potential to impact genetic diseases.’
The finding could lead to a better understanding of genetic disorders.
‘Genetic interactions…may also explain a considerable component of the undiscovered genetics associated with human diseases’ the authors wrote.
WHAT ARE THE HUMAN INTELLIGENCE GENES?
Two clusters of genes have been found that are directly linked to human intelligence.
Called M1 and M3, these ‘gene networks’ appear to determine how smart a person is by controlling their memory, attention, processing speed and reasoning.
Crucially, scientists have also discovered that these two networks – which each contain hundreds of genes – are likely to be under the control of master regulator switches.
Researchers from Imperial College London are now keen to identify these switches and explore whether it might be feasible to manipulate them.
The research is at a very early stage, but the scientists would ultimately like to investigate whether it is possible to use this knowledge of gene networks to boost cognitive function.
The investigators analysed thousands of genes expressed in the human brain, and then combined these results with genetic information from healthy people who had undergone IQ tests.
Remarkably, they found some of the same genes that influence human intelligence in healthy people were also the same genes that cause impaired cognitive ability and epilepsy when mutated.
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