Category Archives: Genetics

Genetics

Thought to be extinct, Beothuk DNA is still present in N.L. families, genetics researcher finds – CBC.ca

Steve Carr is a biology professor at Memorial University in St. John's. (Memorial University )

A St. John's genetics specialist has found DNA connections that link theBeothuk people to contemporary people, almost two centuries after the last known Beothuk died.

Steve Carr, a biology professor at Memorial University, says that his research also shows that the genetic material of the ancient Maritime Archaic people still exists to this day, centuries after they disappeared from placeslike Port au Choix, on Newfoundland's west coast.

Shanawdithit, the last knownmember of the Beothuk people, died in 1829. The Beothuk have long been described as extinct, but Carr says a more accurate phrasing is culturally extinct, as the science of DNA is now reshaping the story.

For years, Indigenous people in Newfoundland including the Mi'kmaq have maintained they are related to the Beothuk.

Carr, whose findings have been published in the journal Genome, says there is evidence to support that position.

"The question was whether those genetic descendants had descendants, and those descendants had descendants, and whether they persist to the modern times. And the answer from my analysis is, yes they do," Carr told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning.

DNA was harvested from the molars of the skulls of two well-known Beothuk persons: Demasduit, the aunt of Shanawdithit , and her husband, Nonosbawsut. Demasduit died in 1820. Nonosbawsut was killed a year earlier while he tried to prevent her capture.

In 2017, a graduate student collected the DNA from a museum in Scotland, where the Beothuk remains had been held until this March, when they were returned to Newfoundland.

The DNA was then compared with databases, and Carr said the links are clear.

"There is a living person who is genetically identical to Nonosbawsut," Carr said.

"I have actually spoken to the person and he's fascinated to find out this connection. The odd thing there is that he has been pursuing genealogy for a number of years. He can trace his maternal ancestry back five generations and there's no indications in that record of any First Nations or Native American ancestry."

There are no direct descendants of Demasduit and Nonosbawsut. The couple had an infant son, who died.

However, the family tree that included Demasduit and Nonosbawsut clearly has branches that are thriving today.

"However, where those two individuals were members of what we understand to be the last band of Beothuk, it's certainly possible that their brothers or their uncles or their grandfathers or their great-grandfathers or their great-great-grandfathers, that they had children who survived, and the modern persons that we find who are identical to or similar to Nonosbawsut and Demasduit are literally their cousins," Carr said.

"[This is] in exactly the way that we think about cousins. Cousins are people who have an ancestor in common."

Carr said it's likely members of the Beothuk people "had what we'll call friendly relationships" with other people, which led to children being born centuries agowho went on to reproduce family lines that still flourish.

Chief Mi'sel Joe of the Miawpukek First Nationwelcomed Carr's research.

"I wasn't surprised. We knew it all along," Joe said.

"But it was good to have it confirmed."

Carr, who is also the founder of a company called Terra Nova Genomics, will be working with the Miawpukek First Nation in Conne River for the next phase of an ongoing research project.

He intends to compare DNA samples from that Mi'kmaq community with the Beothuk DNA, and believes more family connections will likely be proven.

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Thought to be extinct, Beothuk DNA is still present in N.L. families, genetics researcher finds - CBC.ca

Genetics

University of Iowa molecular genetics researcher studying COVID-19 testing methods to alleviate test shortages – UI The Daily Iowan

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Val Sheffield is pivoting his research focus to find a way to test patients without using high demand cotton swabs.

University of Iowa Molecular Genetics Chair in the Carver College of Medicine Val Sheffield has made research breakthroughs in linking gene research and was recently named to a prestigious American research institutes class of 2020.

But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheffield is pivoting his work to research an alternate way to test patients for novel coronavirus to alleviate a nationwide shortage of the parts in a COVID-19 test.

Sheffield and his team submitted a document April 1 to the FDA requesting emergency-use authorization to utilize a patient-sample collection method for COVID-19 testing.

My laboratory decided early on that we have the capability to help with [COVID-19] testing, Sheffield said. Testing is really important, but its behind where it should be because there arent enough official, FDA-approved swabs to collect samples from patients For the last month weve been trying to get FDA approval for our testing method where patients snort through the nose and spit into a tube, and the saliva sample is tested for the virus.

When the method is approved by the FDA, Sheffield said researchers can use it to test anyone. The most common coronavirus tests involve inserting a long cotton swab into a patients nostril. Sheffield anticipates beginning testing soon, with a limited number of patients in a study that will be the final step in getting FDA approval.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds launched Test Iowa, a partnership between the state and private technology companies Domo, Qualtrics, and NomiHealth. But, the Test Iowa equipment was pending certification by the State Hygienic Lab to run tests as of Friday.

In Iowa, tests are being prioritized for those over the age of 60, with chronic health conditions, are in the hospital, or live in congregate living facilities such as a nursing home.

Iowa has tested more than 63,000 people and reported more than 10,000 cases as of Wednesday. Reynolds is using widespread testing as a signal that the state can begin the steps of reopening, seemingly going against the advice of University of Iowa researchers, who concluded that a second wave of COVID-19 cases could emerge without precautions in place.

In late April, amid his shifting work, Sheffield was elected to the 2020 class of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Sheffield began as a faculty member at the UI 30 years ago and contributes to campus clinical work and research. He started as an assistant professor and has since branched out to administrative work, instruction, and research. He served as the UI Division Director of Medical Genetics for 22 years and stepped down in January to spend more time on research.

RELATED: National registrar association awards Sarah Harris with honorary membership after 30 years at UI

Sheffield has co-authored 330 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and said he has found supportive and outstanding collaborators who have been pivotal to his researchs success in his time at the UI.

My research focuses on hereditary blindness, he said. Ive worked on identifying genes that play a role in hereditary blindness. More recently, my team and I have been focusing on figuring out mechanisms by which mutations cause disease and developing treatments.

Sheffield said that his election has reinforced his obligation to serve and help others with his science. This will continue to fuel his desire to work hard and continue to further his research, Sheffield said.

David Ginsburg, James V. Neel Distinguished university professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He first met Sheffield at the Howard Hughes Medical Institution.

Ginsburg said Sheffields research has been crucial to developing human genetic maps. Only a few academic scientists are elected to the U.S. organization a year, and Ginsburg said Sheffields election was well deserved.

Val is a fantastic physician scientist, Ginsburg said. Hes done landmark work figuring out what gene is defective for a whole variety of different, rare genetic diseases. He was one of the real pioneers tracking down these genes. He identified where the corresponding disease gene is located in our chromosomes for about 35 diseases When I was in medical school, we only knew the responsible gene for one human disease Today, we know the gene for about 6,000 human diseases, and Val was one of the early leaders in this work.

Ginsburg said he has seen how much members of the organization can grow once theyre inducted. Sheffield will be able to continue expanding his horizons in academia when he is inducted next spring, he added.

A big part of what drives what we do in academic medicine is interaction with colleagues and the new ideas that you get when meeting, talking, and interacting with colleagues in diverse fields, he said. Thats one of the greatest things the American Academy has to offer. I know it will give Val an opportunity to expand his research and intellectual contributions to the academic enterprise.

According to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences website, the 240-year-old American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded by John Adams and John Hancock and aims to recognize scholars and leaders in various disciplines. Sheffield joins 11 other Hawkeyes already in the organization, including UI Cardiovascular Research Chair and Professor Francois Abboud.

Abboud said Sheffield, who he has known since 1990, is an internationally recognized leader in the field of human molecular genetics and genomics as well as someone he admires.

[Sheffield] is more than a great scientist, Abboud said. Ive always been impressed by his true commitment to his patients. What drives his scientific research is his extraordinary commitment to the patients. Science is his true passion. He is a brilliant scientist and an even more remarkable person.

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University of Iowa molecular genetics researcher studying COVID-19 testing methods to alleviate test shortages - UI The Daily Iowan

Genetics

What is Genetics? – Life Sciences Articles

Genetics is the study of heredity. Heredity is a biological process whereby a parent passes certain genes onto their children or offspring.

Every child inherits genes from both of their biological parents and these genes, in turn, express specific traits. Some of these traits may be physical for example hair and eye color etc.

On the other hand, some genes may also carry the risk of certain diseases and disorders that may be passed on from parents to their offspring.

Image Credit: fizkes/Shutterstock.com

The genetic information lies within the cell nucleus of each living cell in the body. The information can be considered to be retained in a book for example. Part of this book with the genetic information comes from the father while the other part comes from the mother.

The genes lie within the chromosomes. Humans have 23 pairs of these small thread-like structures in the nucleus of their cells. 23 or half of the total 46 comes from the mother while the other 23 comes from the father.

The chromosomes contain genes just like pages of a book. Some chromosomes may carry thousands of important genes while some may carry only a few.

The chromosomes, and therefore the genes, are made up of the chemical substance called DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid). The chromosomes are very long thin strands of DNA, coiled up tightly.

At one point along their length, each chromosome has a constriction, called the centromere. The centromere divides the chromosomes into two arms: a long arm and a short arm.

Chromosomes are numbered from 1 to 22 and these are common for both sexes and called autosomes. There are also two chromosomes that have been given the letters X and Y and termed sex chromosomes. The X chromosome is much larger than the Y chromosome.

The genes are further made up of unique codes of chemical bases comprising of A, T, C and G (Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine). These chemical bases make up combinations with permutations and combinations. These are akin to the words on a page.

These chemical bases are part of the DNA. The words when strung together act as the blueprints that tell the cells of the body when and how to grow, mature and perform various functions. With age, the genes may be affected and may develop faults and damages due to environmental and endogenous toxins.

Women have 46 chromosomes (44 autosomes plus two copies of the X chromosome) in their body cells. They have half of this or 22 autosomes plus an X chromosome in their egg cells.

Men have 46 chromosomes (44 autosomes plus an X and a Y chromosome) in their body cells and have half of these 22 autosomes plus an X or Y chromosome in their sperm cells.

When the egg joins with the sperm, the resultant baby has 46 chromosomes (with either an XX in a female baby or XY in a male baby).

Each gene is a piece of genetic information. All the DNA in the cell makes up for the human genome. There are about 20,000 genes located on one of the 23 chromosome pairs found in the nucleus.

To date, about 12,800 genes have been mapped to specific locations (loci) on each of the chromosomes. This database was begun as part of the Human Genome Project. The project was officially completed in April 2003 but the exact number of genes in the human genome is still unknown.

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What is Genetics? - Life Sciences Articles

Genetics

New study shows the importance of genetic testing in people with solid tumor cancers – News-Medical.Net

A new Cleveland Clinic study demonstrates the importance of genetics evaluation and genetic testing for children, adolescents and young adults with solid tumor cancers. The study was published today in Nature Communications.

Solid tumors account for half of cancer cases in children, adolescent and young adult (C-AYA) patients. The majority of these cases are assumed to result from germline variants (heritable changes affecting all cells in the body) rather than somatic alterations. However, little is known regarding the spectrum, frequency and implications of these germline variants.

In this study, led by Charis Eng, M.D., Ph.D., Cleveland Clinic's Genomic Medicine Institute, the researchers conducted the largest-to-date evaluation of germline mutations in C-AYA patients with solid tumors utilizing a combined dataset from Cleveland Clinic and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Of the 1,507 patients analyzed, 12% carried germline pathogenic and/or likely pathogenic variants in known cancer-predisposing (KCPG) genes while an additional 61% had germline pathogenic variants in non-KCPG genes.

Our findings emphasize the necessity for all C-AYA patients with solid tumors to be sent for genetics evaluation and gene testing. Adult guidelines, particularly family history, are typically used to recognize C-AYA patients with possible heritable cancer, but studies have found a family history of cancer in only about 40% of patients with pathogenic and/or likely pathogenic variants."

Charis Eng, M.D., Ph.D., Genomic Medicine Institute,Cleveland Clinic's

The researchers also conducted a drug-target network analysis to determine if the pathogenic and/or likely pathogenic germline variants detected in the dataset were located within genes that could potentially be targeted by drug therapies.

Their analysis found that 511 (34%) patients had at least one pathogenic and/or likely pathogenic variant on a gene that is potentially druggable. Notably, they discovered that approximately one-third of these patients had variants that can be targeted by existing FDA-approved drugs.

"Currently, the majority of available targeted therapies are geared to adult patients, leaving few safe and effective treatment options for C-AYA patients," noted Dr. Eng. "However, we found that a significant number of the germline altered genes in C-AYA solid tumor cancers are targetable by FDA-approved drugs, which presents an opportunity to harness drug repurposing to identify therapeutic options for C-AYA patients."

Source:

Journal reference:

Akhavanfard, S., et al. (2020) Comprehensive germline genomic profiles of children, adolescents and young adults with solid tumors. Nature Communications. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16067-1.

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New study shows the importance of genetic testing in people with solid tumor cancers - News-Medical.Net

Genetics

Study: Genetics of AQP4 water channels impact the intensity of deep sleep – News-Medical.Net

The reason why we sleep remains an unresolved question of the 21st century. Research by Sara Marie Ulv Larsen, Sebastian Camillo Holst and colleagues from the Neurobiology Research Unit at the University Hospital Copenhagen, published this week in the open access journal PLoS Biology, now shows that the depth of non-rapid-eye-movement (nonREM) sleep in humans is associated with different genetic versions of a gene that encodes a water channel involved in fluid flow in the brain.

Recent insights suggest that sleep may enable and promote a flow of cerebrospinal fluid into the brain that literally removes metabolic waste. In experimental animals, this process is aided by water channels called AQP4; these form water-permeable pores through the cell membranes of brain cells called astrocytes.

The role of these water channels in the human brain and whether they are associated with the regulation of deep nonREM sleep, also called slow wave sleep, had not yet been examined.

A common set of genetic variants that are inherited together are called a haplotype. One such a haplotype (containing eight individual DNA variants) was previously shown to modulate the levels of AQP4.

By carefully studying more than 100 healthy individuals, the authors found that the depth of slow wave sleep, which can be measured by analyzing the brain waves recorded during sleep, differs between carriers of this haplotype and a control group.

The difference was most pronounced at the beginning of the night, when our need for sleep is highest. Interestingly, the two haplotype groups also coped differently when kept awake for two full days, suggesting that changes in the flow of fluids through AQP4 water channels may modify how we cope with sleep loss.

Because the genetic variants within the AQP4 haplotype were also previously associated with the progression of Alzheimer's disease, the results of this study may suggest that a sleep-driven exchange of fluids through AQP4 water channels could be linked to Alzheimer's progression.

To explore the possible association between Alzheimer's disease and AQP4 water channels, further studies are warranted.

The authors noted:

"A more immediate implication of our results is by improving our understanding of the importance of sleep"

In other words, this is the first study to show that the genetics of AQP4 water channels affect the intensity of deep sleep and how we cope with loss of sleep.

These findings add support to the current theory that sleep may be involved in the regulation of "brain clearance" and as such highlights the link between sleep and fluid flow in the human brain.

Source:

Journal reference:

Larsen, S. M. U., et al. (2020) Haplotype of the astrocytic water channel AQP4 is associated with slow wave energy regulation in human NREM sleep. PLOS Biology. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000623.

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Study: Genetics of AQP4 water channels impact the intensity of deep sleep - News-Medical.Net

Genetics

The COVID-19 Pandemic: White House Coronavirus Task Force to Shift Focus; Genetic Analysis Confirms Virus Started in 2019; and More – DocWire News

World News:

The world is closing in on yet another grim milestone as COVID-19 has infected almost 4 million people worldwide. Worldometer now reports 3.7 million confirmed cases, with the novel virus SARS-CoV-2 now responsible for the deaths of almost 260,000 people across the globe.

Outside of the US, the countries with the most confirmed cases are:

UK Scientist Steps Down After Breaking Lockdown Rules He Helped Develop

The United Kingdoms scientific adviser, who helped architect the UKs lockdown rules, resigned after he broke his own protocols. Professor Neil Ferguson, the leading epidemiologist who advised the British government on its COVID-19 response, stepped down after a story broke in The Telegraph that he allowed his reported lover to visit him at home, thus breaking lockdown orders. London police commented by saying: We remain committed to our role in supporting adherence to government guidance and have made it clear that our starting position is explaining the need to follow the regulations with anyone who is in breach in order to keep people safe and protect the National Health Service (NHS).

National News:

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Over 70,000 US Deaths

COVID-19 has now killed over 72,000 people in the United States as of Wednesday, May 6. There are over 1.2 million confirmed infections. The US epicenter of New York now reports 330,139 confirmed cases and 25,436 deaths while second leading New Jersey now has 131,705 confirmed cases and 8,292 deaths.

Outside of NY and NJ, the US states with the most confirmed infections are:

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the White House coronavirus task force will continue working indefinitely, reversing an initial decision he made on Tuesday to phase out the team in the coming weeks. Trump said that the group, said by Vice President Mike Pence, has done a fantastic job of bringing together vast highly complex resources, such as ventilators, face masks and testing systems. Because of this success, the Task Force will continue on indefinitely with its focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN, the president tweeted. Trump added that, We may add or subtract peopleto it, as appropriate. The Task Force will also be very focused on Vaccines & Therapeutics. Thank you!

A new genetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19, shows that coronavirus started circulating in people late last year, and spread extremely quickly after the first infection, according to a CNN report.. This dispels any rumors that the virus had been around earlier than 2019. The analysis also found no evidence that the virus is becoming more transmissible. The virus is changing, but this in itself does not mean its getting worse, genetics researcher Francois Balloux of the University College London Genetics Institute told CNN.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention says that at least 4,893 incarcerated or detained people have been infected with COVID-19. Moreover, the CDC reports that at least 2,778 staff members have tested positive for the respiratory disease, resulting in 15 deaths. Approximately one half of facilities with COVID-19 cases reported them among staff members but not among incarcerated persons, the report said. Because staff members move between correctional facilities and their communities daily, they might be an important source of virus introduction into facilities.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Monday, May 4, 2020

Friday, May 1, 2020

Friday, May 1, 2020

As most US states begin easing their lockdown restrictions, its apparent that the US is still not of the virus grip. There are now over 1.1 million confirmed cases in the US and over 64,000 deaths. The countrys epicenter, New York, now reports 310,839 confirmed cases and 24,069 deaths. The nations capital, Washington DC, has seen an uptick in cases over the past seven weeks, and reported 335 new cases on Friday its biggest single day rise.

The US states outside of New York with the highest confirmed cases remain:

Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Trump administration is ramping up efforts for developing a coronavirus vaccine, and one could be available by January, the NY Post reports. We want to go quickly, but we want to make sure its safe and its effective, Faucisaid on NBCs Today showon Thursday. I think that is doable if things fall in the right place.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention how the US deals with the COVID-19 pandemic in the coming weeks will be critical to how the virus will evolve come the fall season. I do think that what we do this summer is going to be critical, said Dr. Ann Schuchat, CDC principal deputy director in an interview with JAMA Network. The more we intensify the testing and expand the public health capacity and assure that our hospital capacity and material to support the hospitals is adequate or has excess, the better were going to be in the fall.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: April Round-up

Heres a full wrap-up of COVID-19 happenings from the month of March.

The COVID-19 Pandemic March Round-up: Coronavirus Declared a Pandemic; People, Businesses and Economies Devastated

DocWire News will provide breaking updates on the COVID-19 pandemic as they become available.

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The COVID-19 Pandemic: White House Coronavirus Task Force to Shift Focus; Genetic Analysis Confirms Virus Started in 2019; and More - DocWire News

Genetics

Breaking the Code: A lifetime of pain, due to genetic drug intolerance – FirstCoastNews.com WTLV-WJXX

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. For Linda Armstrong, the pain started 25 years ago with a truck going 45 miles an hour. It left her with severe neurological and brain injuries.

On a scale of one to 10, she said, There are days when its 10. I mean you literally cant move.

Like millions of Americans, she was prescribed opioids -- Vicodin, Dilaudid, Percocet but the pain persisted.

I would get some relief, but nothing that ever really made me functional, she said, "and it always made me nauseous.

Armstrongs lackluster response to pain medications had been a reality since she was a child. Once, getting a cavity filled, she recalls, I had to have 10 shots for one filling because it just would not numb.

Her resistance to drugs was simply anecdotal until she visited her doctor in October. Under new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, doctors test opioid patients both for the presence of illegal drugs, and to ensure they are taking and not selling their pain meds.

Her test? Completely negative. There were no drugs of any type in my system.

Initially, her doctor wrote it off as a fluke.

When it happened a second time, Armstrong explained, her doctor said Linda we have to talk about this.

She took another test this time going so far as to take pills while her doctor watched. She even got her hair tested.

Still: Negative.

Fortunately, Armstrong has had the same doctor since the mid-'90s, and rather than doubting her, she worked to help get answers. She ordered a genetic test, which revealed significant abnormalities -- including in an enzyme called CYP2d6, which metabolizes opioids.

The test revealed something researchers in the field of pharmacogenomics know, but few patients do. People do not respond to drugs in the same way, explains Standford University researcher Dr. Russ Altman in a Ted Talk. Some people get no pain relief at all.

Armstrongs genetic test showed she was a hyper-metabolizer of opioids an issue that creates problems beyond pain. As Altman says, there are only two things a doctor can think when a patient complains they arent getting relief from opioids.

I could think this person is a CYPD2d6 non-responder, or I could think this is a trouble-making drug-seeker who wants something stronger, Altman said. Most doctors think the latter.

Armstrongs case is dramatic but not unusual. Dr Liewei Wang at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., is a leading researcher in pharmacogenomics research into the interaction of genes and drugs. She says 99 percent of people have at least one genetic variant that affects drug response. Response is variable, and in some cases not desirable.

Genetic testing can predict who may or may not respond, she said, and for those who dont respond -- are there alternative therapies?

In some cases, the wrong drug can be fatal. Already, hospitals like UF Health test cardiac patients before surgery for a gene that complicates blood clotting.

And some fields, like oncology and psychiatry, routinely use genetic tests to prescribe drugs. But most patients arent aware such tests even exist.

Jacksonville Pharmacist Todd Troxell believes genetic testing is the key to more effective prescribing. When you go get your glasses we dont just say, pick something up and go home. We get your prescription, he says. You cant see out of myglasses.

After looking at Armstrongs test, Troxell was able to steer her to a different pain medication that is working. I could tell from what she had on her report she wasnt going to be able to take certain medications.

Troxell would like to see genetic testing more widely available -- and comprehensible. Companies focused on translating dense genetic code into pharmaceutical recommendations were effectively shut down by the FDA in 2018. The agency worriedthe tests could pose significant public health concerns as inaccurate test results could impact the decision-making of healthcare providers and patients in ways that are seriously detrimental to patient health.

The agency walked that back slightly earlier this year, creating a Table of Pharmacogenetic Associations, which lists gene-drug interactions the agency believes are based on sufficient scientific evidence based on published literature.

For now, a genetic test needs to be ordered by a physician, who may or may not be able to interpret the code. And genetics remains just one element that doctors and patients should consider, including age, weight and environmental factors.

But patients like Armstrong say breaking the genetic code shouldnt be a secret it could literally spare them a lifetime of pain. Given the chance early on, she said, I would have had that test done in a heartbeat.

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Breaking the Code: A lifetime of pain, due to genetic drug intolerance - FirstCoastNews.com WTLV-WJXX

Genetics

Genetics in focus after coronavirus deaths of siblings and twins – The Guardian

Amid the steady stream of stories on the lives lost to coronavirus are cases that stand out as remarkable. In the past month, at least two pairs of twins have died in Britain and two pairs of brothers, all within hours or days of each other. But do the deaths point to genetic factors that make some more likely than others to succumb to the disease?

Most scientists believe that genes play a role in how people respond to infections. A persons genetic makeup may influence the receptors that the coronavirus uses to invade human cells. How resilient the person is to the infection, their general health, and how the immune system reacts will also have some genetic component.

A team led by Prof Tim Spector, head of twin research and genetic epidemiology at Kings College London, has reported that Covid-19 symptoms appear to be 50% genetic. But Spector said more work is needed to understand which genes are involved and what difference they make to the course of the disease. We dont know if there are genes linked to the receptors or genes linked to how the infection presents, he said.

Identical twins Katy and Emma Davis, aged 37, died at Southampton general hospital last month. The sisters, who lived together, had underlying health problems and had been ill for some time before they contracted the virus. Another pair of twins, Eleanor Andrews and her sister Eileen, aged 66, died earlier this month. They too lived together and had underlying health conditions.

Two brothers from Newport, Ghulam Abbas, 59, and Raza Abbas, 54, died within hours of each other at Royal Gwent hospital. Another pair of brothers from Luton, Olume Ivowi, 46, and Isi Ivowi, 38, died within days of each other.

These deaths alert people to the fact that this could be genetic, but when people live together they share an environment as well, Spector said. The upshot is that twins who live together are more likely to have similar lifestyles and behaviours, from diet and exercise habits to how quickly they seek medical care. Twins are not generally less healthy than the wider population.

Twin deaths made headlines long before the coronavirus struck. When Julian and Adrian Riester died on the same day in Florida in 2011, a cousin of the twin Franciscan monks said it was confirmation that God favoured them. But Spector sees the hand of cold statistics at work. When you look formally at this, you see that twins rarely die at the same time, he said. There are billions of people on the planet. One in 70 is a twin and one in 200 is an identical twin.

Marcus Munafo, professor of biological psychiatry at Bristol University, said reports of twin deaths must be interpreted with caution. Twin deaths are unusual, which makes them newsworthy, but coverage can distort our perceptions. Salience bias refers to the fact that we tend to focus on information that stands out more, even if its not particularly relevant. So we need to be careful not to read too much into events that might stand out for reasons that are not actually related to the issue were interested in, he said.

When twins or siblings tragically die with Covid-19 that captures our attention, but that doesnt mean theres any particular reason to think twins or siblings are at greater risk.

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Genetics in focus after coronavirus deaths of siblings and twins - The Guardian