Category Archives: Genetics

Genetics

Did Homo sapiens really outcompete Neanderthals? Genetics is rewriting the story of human evolution – Genetic Literacy Project

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Did Homo sapiens really outcompete Neanderthals? Genetics is rewriting the story of human evolution - Genetic Literacy Project

Genetics

How animal farming may have created ‘perfect storm’ for pandemics – Medical News Today

In the wild, parasites and their animal hosts are engaged in a dynamic cooperation comprising reciprocal, adaptive genetic changes that naturally occur when two species interact.

As a result of continuous adaptations and counter-adaptations between the parasite and its host species, neither is able to gain a sustained advantage over the other.

Evolutionary biologists liken this evolutionary standoff to the race in Lewis Carrolls Through the Looking-Glass, which, as the Red Queen describes it, takes all the running you can do, to stay in the same place.

Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.

However, according to Prof. Cock Van Oosterhout, a professor of evolutionary genetics at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, this is a race that humanity is losing.

In an editorial in the journal Virulence, he warns that our highly bred livestock cannot keep pace with the evolution of parasites, such as viruses, due to the animals lack of genetic diversity.

As a result, livestock act as mixing vessels for the emergence of new infectious diseases that can then make the leap from animals to humans.

In combination with habitat destruction, the illegal wildlife trade, and mass migration of both animals and people, Prof. Van Oosterhout says this has created a perfect storm for the development of pandemics, such as COVID-19.

He concludes that emerging infectious diseases are possibly the greatest existential threat to humanity.

As a result of centuries of selective breeding, livestock animals are severely inbred, writes Prof. Van Oosterhout, who is the deputy director of the Earth and Life Systems Alliance.

Despite a total biomass of livestock being 10 times that of all wildlife on Earth, research suggests that these breeds effective population size that is, a measure of a populations genetic diversity and viability is 80 times lower than that of the minimum viable population for a free-living species.

With so little genetic variation, livestock cannot evolve to meet the challenges that new pathogens pose.

Prof. Van Oosterhout writes:

Given the extraordinarily high biomass of our livestock (and us humans), the momentary fitness gains that parasites could accomplish by exploiting this plentiful resource are truly astronomical. Parasites and pathogens will continue to adapt to exploit these resources, and it is high time we recognize[d] this evolutionary inevitability.

He believes that everyone will need to make concessions to safeguard the future well-being of our species.

To minimize the threat from future pandemics and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he proposes three broad strategies:

Gene flow is the mixing of different populations gene pools as a result of the movement of plants, animals, humans, and their associated pathogens.

This genetic mixing provides opportunities for the spread of disease and the emergence of new infections.

Technology that allows virtual working is a straightforward and relatively painless way to control gene flow, Prof. Van Oosterhout writes.

However, he acknowledges that other measures will involve policymakers making trade-offs between the benefits of economic growth, well-being, and education, and potential costs to human health and the environment.

He proposes that governments need to consider more controversial measures, such as compulsory vaccination and vaccine passports.

Sadly, this might be the price we have to pay for trailing in the Red Queen arms race, he writes.

Importantly, implementing these urgent changes requires us to carefully negotiate a wide range of legal and ethical issues that could inadvertently discriminate or exacerbate existing inequalities, he adds.

Prof. Van Oosterhout writes that, in order to track gene flow, governments must dedicate more resources to sequencing the viruses that make their home in wildlife and livestock.

An estimated 1.67 million viral species have yet to be discovered from mammal and bird hosts, and the costs of sequencing viruses with the highest zoonotic potential may be great (~1.2 to 7 billion US dollars), but they are dwarfed by the cost of another pandemic.

Habitat destruction is known to promote the emergence of new infectious diseases. Therefore, it will also be necessary to halt the loss of natural habitats in order to minimize the gene flow, he writes.

Prof. Van Oosterhout claims that livestock has become a sitting duck in the arms race with emerging infectious diseases as a result of extremely low genetic diversity.

Unless we act now, massive losses of crops and livestock are an evolutionary inevitability, he writes.

Fortunately, he says, much of the diversity that was once part of livestock and crops is still present in wild varieties and relatives of these animals and plants, and dispersed among different breeds.

While mass food production has underpinned our success as a species, it is unsustainable on environmental, ecological, and evolutionary grounds, he writes.

We urgently need to reduce our reliance on animal protein, in particular the consumption of other mammals, he says.

He claims that, in contrast to fish, for example, mammals pose the greatest threat for the evolution and transmission of new infectious diseases because they are the most closely related to humans.

In addition, he notes that the use of antibiotics to enhance growth and control infections has led to new, more virulent, and more resistant microorganisms.

Prof. Jonathan Stoye of the Francis Crick Institute in London, U.K., studies the evolutionary arms race between viruses, such as HIV, and their hosts. Both HIV and SARS-CoV-2 jumped from animals to humans.

While acknowledging the dangers posed by infections that originate in animals, such as COVID-19, he told Medical News Today:

I think we need to be very careful about talking of existential threats, particularly in the context of a virus that kills less than 2% of those infected. Overall, I believe that ecological changes resulting from altered land use or deforestation pose a much greater threat than the theoretical risks associated with inbreeding of potential intermediate hosts.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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How animal farming may have created 'perfect storm' for pandemics - Medical News Today

Genetics

Nearsightedness is on the rise in children, and it’s not because of genetics – KHOU.com

In the United States alone it has gone from 25% of the population in the 70s to 42% now.

HOUSTON You know how kids dont play outside as much as they used to? Well, now experts say that trend has an unusual side effect: childrens eyesight is getting worse.

An increase in kids

Nearsightedness, also called myopia, is on the rise in kids. Thats when you can see up close objects clearly, but things that are far away are fuzzy.

It can be caused by genetics and the environment. But experts say myopia has increased so rapidly that it cant be blamed on genetics. In the United States alone it has gone from 25 percent of the population in the 70s to 42 percent. In southeast and east Asia, its estimated 80 to 90 percent of high schoolers are nearsighted.

Less sunlight is hurting eyes

So whats causing this increase? It might seem easy to blame all that screen time kids have these days. But experts say that is not the direct reason. Its actually because children are getting less natural light. Researchers say exposure to daylight and focusing on things far away outside can delay the onset of myopia. And the pandemic has made things worse. New research shows the eyesight of children quarantined during the onset of coronavirus deteriorated rapidly.

Take more breaks and get more outside time

There is something you can do about it. Experts say its not practical to take away screens altogether but you can impose some rules. They recommend a practice called 20-20-20. Thats where you take regular breaks every 20 minutes to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. And of course, more time outside could make a real difference.

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Nearsightedness is on the rise in children, and it's not because of genetics - KHOU.com

Genetics

Q&A: What is asthma and how is it diagnosed in children? – The Irish Times

What causes asthma?

Asthma is an inflammatory disorder of the bronchial airways produced by allergies, viral respiratory infections and airborne irritants. The root cause is unknown but it seems that a combination of genetics and environment determines who is affected.

There was a very significant increase in the global incidence of asthma in the latter half of the 20th century, which seemed to level off, or even decrease, in the last decade, says Dr Marcus Butler, a respiratory consultant and medical director of the Asthma Society (asthma.ie). This trend would indicate that genetics is not the dominant factor.

What are the symptoms?

In children, its typically wheezing. They can also get a sudden increase in coughing that wont go away. As they get older, children can explain the sensation of tightness in the chest.

Symptoms tend to get worse at night in asthma, says Butler, but other things can cause that too. Its important to take the child to the GP if you have any concerns.

How is childhood asthma diagnosed?

There isnt one simple diagnostic test for asthma so its a condition that is fraught with misdiagnosis, particularly so in paediatric diagnosis, he explains. That is why in the case of children, its recommended that a diagnosis is not made until the age of six onwards.

The majority of wheeze-type conditions in the early years tend to disappear and are probably respiratory viruses rather than allergic asthma. However, some children have very classic asthma symptoms triggered by allergies before the age of six, in which case a confident diagnosis can be made.

The diagnosis requires the demonstration of excessive variability in breathing tests at different times. When people who dont have asthma are asked to blow as hard they can into a measuring device, the results will always be much the same. Whereas for people with asthma, affected by swelling in the lungs, the measurements will sometimes be much lower.

How is it treated?

For young children, medication to control symptoms is administered through an inhaler using a spacer device, which means the drug can be easily inhaled through a mask without them having to co-ordinate their breathing with the pressing of an inhaler. Theyre safe when we use the lowest effective dose. It is really important to have a written asthma action plan that will guide that treatment, says Butler.

The use of such a plan has been effective in reducing the death rate, by getting diagnosis early and starting treatment early. It is also important, he says, that patients are warned about the overuse of short-acting reliever inhalers. These are medications that dont alter the swelling of asthma at all, they just widen the airways temporarily. They can give false reassurance to a patient who will feel better symptom-wise for a short period of time after taking these and they are also so much cheaper than other medications.

This can start a vicious cycle of relying on the reliever medication and not using the preventer medication, which we would much rather happens.

Using more than 12 reliver inhalers a year, ie one a month, is a risk factor for death for asthma, he warns. Inhaler technique is also a big issue, as it requires time and effort to learn to use one correctly. Asthma only improves when the drug reaches its intended destination regularly, deep in the lungs, so inhaler technique is key to that happening.

Are deaths preventable?

There are some cases where, no matter what, death will still happen, says Butler. However, the Asthma Society aims to reduce the number of deaths in Ireland by half by 2025, through education and awareness-raising at patient, practitioner and policy levels. Asthma deaths among all ages rose to 63 in 2016, from a 10-year low of 39 in 2012. A review of six of 13 asthma paediatric deaths from 2006-2016 by Dr Des Cox, consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine in CHI at Crumlin, to be published in the Irish Medical Journal, found common factors among those deaths included: they were mostly adolescents, there was a sudden onset of the asthma attack; the patients did not have an Asthma Action Plan or it was out of date; they had not had structured reviews and none had seen a doctor recently.

For more information, see asthma.ie; or ring the free Asthma Adviceline 1800 44 54 64.

1 in 10 children currently has asthma.1 in 5 children experiences asthma at some stage in their life.5 The average number of school days a child with asthma misses every year.8,000 The number of asthma admissions (child and adult) to hospital every year.4 minutes How often someone in Ireland visits an emergency department due to asthma.Source: Asthma Society of Ireland

Read:It wasnt just asthma

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Q&A: What is asthma and how is it diagnosed in children? - The Irish Times

Genetics

Wound healing, infection can be determined by genetics – Times of India

TEXAS: Researchers from Texas Tech's Department of Biological Sciences and Natural Science Research Laboratory recently determined that some genes have an association with the pathogens that infect chronic wounds and hinder the healing process.

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have determined that genetics may play a role in how wounds heal. Caleb Phillips, an assistant professor at Texas Tech University and director of the Phillips Laboratory in the Department of Biological Sciences, and doctoral student Craig Tipton led the study, "Patient genetics is linked to chronic wound microbiome composition and healing," according to a study published in the open-access, peer-reviewed medical journal PLOS Pathogens.

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"We showed that there are identifiable locations in people's genome where, depending on their genotype, they tend to get infections by specific bacteria," Phillips said. "The different genomic locations identified tend to be related in terms of the types of genes they are close to and may regulate. A working hypothesis emerging from the research is that genetic differences influencing genes encoding the way our cells interact with the environment and each other are important for infection differences."

Though there is still work to be done before the research directly benefits patients, Tipton said the study is an important and promising step in that direction.

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Wound healing, infection can be determined by genetics - Times of India

Genetics

International research teams explore genetic effects of Chernobyl radiation – National Institutes of Health

News Release

Thursday, April 22, 2021

In two landmark studies, researchers have used cutting-edge genomic tools to investigate the potential health effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, a known carcinogen, from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine. One study found no evidence that radiation exposure to parents resulted in new genetic changes being passed from parent to child. The second study documented the genetic changes in the tumors of people who developed thyroid cancer after being exposed as children or fetuses to the radiation released by the accident.

The findings, published around the 35th anniversary of the disaster, are from international teams of investigators led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The studies were published online in Science on April 22.

Scientific questions about the effects of radiation on human health have been investigated since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and have been raised again by Chernobyl and by the nuclear accident that followed the tsunami in Fukushima, Japan, said Stephen J. Chanock, M.D., director of NCIs Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG). In recent years, advances in DNA sequencing technology have enabled us to begin to address some of the important questions, in part through comprehensive genomic analyses carried out in well-designed epidemiological studies.

The Chernobyl accident exposed millions of people in the surrounding region to radioactive contaminants. Studies have provided much of todays knowledge about cancers caused by radiation exposures from nuclear power plant accidents. The new research builds on this foundation using next-generation DNA sequencing and other genomic characterization tools to analyze biospecimens from people in Ukraine who were affected by the disaster.

The first study investigated the long-standing question of whether radiation exposure results in genetic changes that can be passed from parent to offspring, as has been suggested by some studies in animals. To answer this question, Dr. Chanock and his colleagues analyzed the complete genomes of 130 people born between 1987 and 2002 and their 105 mother-father pairs.

One or both of the parents had been workers who helped clean up from the accident or had been evacuated because they lived in close proximity to the accident site. Each parent was evaluated for protracted exposure to ionizing radiation, which may have occurred through the consumption of contaminated milk (that is, milk from cows that grazed on pastures that had been contaminated by radioactive fallout). The mothers and fathers experienced a range of radiation doses.

The researchers analyzed the genomes of adult children for an increase in a particular type of inherited genetic change known as de novo mutations. De novo mutations are genetic changes that arise randomly in a persons gametes (sperm and eggs) and can be transmitted to their offspring but are not observed in the parents.

For the range of radiation exposures experienced by the parents in the study, there was no evidence from the whole-genome sequencing data of an increase in the number or types of de novo mutations in their children born between 46 weeks and 15 years after the accident. The number of de novo mutations observed in these children were highly similar to those of the general population with comparable characteristics. As a result, the findings suggest that the ionizing radiation exposure from the accident had a minimal, if any, impact on the health of the subsequent generation.

We view these results as very reassuring for people who were living in Fukushima at the time of the accident in 2011, said Dr. Chanock. The radiation doses in Japan are known to have been lower than those recorded at Chernobyl.

In the second study, researchers used next-generation sequencing to profile the genetic changes in thyroid cancers that developed in 359 people exposed as children or in utero to ionizing radiation from radioactive iodine (I-131) released by the Chernobyl nuclear accident and in 81 unexposed individuals born more than nine months after the accident. Increased risk of thyroid cancer has been one of the most important adverse health effects observed after the accident.

The energy from ionizing radiation breaks the chemical bonds in DNA, resulting in a number of different types of damage. The new study highlights the importance of a particular kind of DNA damage that involves breaks in both DNA strands in the thyroid tumors. The association between DNA double-strand breaks and radiation exposure was stronger for children exposed at younger ages.

Next, the researchers identified the candidate drivers of the cancer in each tumor the key genes in which alterations enabled the cancers to grow and survive. They identified the drivers in more than 95% of the tumors. Nearly all the alterations involved genes in the same signaling pathway, called the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, including the genes BRAF, RAS, and RET.

The set of affected genes is similar to what has been reported in previous studies of thyroid cancer. However, the researchers observed a shift in the distribution of the types of mutations in the genes. Specifically, in the Chernobyl study, thyroid cancers that occurred in people exposed to higher radiation doses as children were more likely to result from gene fusions (when both strands of DNA are broken and then the wrong pieces are joined back together), whereas those in unexposed people or those exposed to low levels of radiation were more likely to result from point mutations (single base-pair changes in a key part of a gene).

The results suggest that DNA double-strand breaks may be an early genetic change following exposure to radiation in the environment that subsequently enables the growth of thyroid cancers. Their findings provide a foundation for further studies of radiation-induced cancers, particularly those that involve differences in risk as a function of both dose and age, the researchers added.

An exciting aspect of this research was the opportunity to link the genomic characteristics of the tumor with information about the radiation dose the risk factor that potentially caused the cancer, said Lindsay M. Morton, Ph.D., deputy chief of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch in DCEG, who led the study.

The Cancer Genome Atlas set the standard for how to comprehensively profile tumor characteristics, Dr. Morton continued. We extended that approach to complete the first large genomic landscape study in which the potential carcinogenic exposure was well-characterized, enabling us to investigate the relationship between specific tumor characteristics and radiation dose.

She noted that the study was made possible by the creation of the Chernobyl Tissue Bank about two decades ago long before the technology had been developed to conduct the kind of genomic and molecular studies that are common today.

These studies represent the first time our group has done molecular studies using the biospecimens that were collected by our colleagues in Ukraine, Dr. Morton said. The tissue bank was set up by visionary scientists to collect tumor samples from residents in highly contaminated regions who developed thyroid cancer. These scientists recognized that there would be substantial advances in technology in the future, and the research community is now benefiting from their foresight.

About the National Cancer Institute (NCI):NCIleads the National Cancer Program and NIHs efforts to dramatically reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families, through research into prevention and cancer biology, the development of new interventions, and the training and mentoring of new researchers. For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI website atcancer.govor call NCIs contact center, the Cancer Information Service, at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

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International research teams explore genetic effects of Chernobyl radiation - National Institutes of Health

Genetics

Calculating The Fair Value Of Fulgent Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLGT) – Yahoo Finance

Does the April share price for Fulgent Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLGT) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you.

View our latest analysis for Fulgent Genetics

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030

Levered FCF ($, Millions)

US$384.0m

US$144.0m

US$144.0m

US$138.6m

US$135.7m

US$134.6m

US$134.7m

US$135.6m

US$137.0m

US$138.9m

Growth Rate Estimate Source

Analyst x1

Analyst x1

Analyst x1

Est @ -3.78%

Est @ -2.03%

Est @ -0.81%

Est @ 0.04%

Est @ 0.64%

Est @ 1.06%

Est @ 1.36%

Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 6.3%

US$361

US$127

US$120

US$109

US$100

US$93.4

US$87.9

US$83.2

US$79.1

US$75.4

("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St)Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$1.2b

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We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.0%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.3%.

Terminal Value (TV)= FCF2030 (1 + g) (r g) = US$139m (1 + 2.0%) (6.3% 2.0%) = US$3.3b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$3.3b ( 1 + 6.3%)10= US$1.8b

The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is US$3.0b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of US$87.7, the company appears about fair value at a 17% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out.

dcf

The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Fulgent Genetics as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 6.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.813. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business.

Although the valuation of a company is important, it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Fulgent Genetics, there are three relevant aspects you should assess:

Risks: To that end, you should learn about the 5 warning signs we've spotted with Fulgent Genetics (including 2 which make us uncomfortable) .

Management:Have insiders been ramping up their shares to take advantage of the market's sentiment for FLGT's future outlook? Check out our management and board analysis with insights on CEO compensation and governance factors.

Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered!

PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every American stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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Calculating The Fair Value Of Fulgent Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLGT) - Yahoo Finance

Genetics

Of cow cams, computing and genetics – Western Producer

Project led by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine brings a suite of high-tech tools to beef improvement research

Spy cams, biometric data processing with machine learning, advanced genomics the IntegrOmes initiative aims to push the latest tools to the edge in the service of improving beef cattle.

Its a perfect testing ground for these new tools, and they are new, said Dr. Gregg Adams, the reproductive specialist at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, which leads the project.

IntegrOmes (integrated omics for sustainable animal agriculture and environmental stewardship) will be based at the University of Saskatchewans Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence (LFCE) just southeast of Saskatoon near Clavet.

The omics in the name refers to a suite of tools. Genomics looks at genes, proteomics at the proteins they produce under various conditions, phenomics at physical characteristics, and microbiomics at the complex microbial communities that live in, for example, the rumens of cattle.

IntegrOmes will look at some familiar performance questions such as feed conversion and disease prevalence, but also behavioural traits.

For example, can genes determine which heifers will grow up to be good mothers? To find out, the researchers plan to use digital photos and video to observe cattle over time on pasture and in enclosed spaces, such as corrals and barns. They will look for behaviours, such as how quickly a calf gets up after birth, and how well a cow accepts its calf in its attempts to nurse.

IntegrOmes partner AlphaPhenomics has provided the means to capture and analyze the data. The Alberta-based tech startup has developed imaging, hardware and software tools for non-invasive biometric measurement of livestock.

Adams said this behavioural data will be combined with measures such as udder size and calf weight at weaning. With this information, researchers will turn to another set of tools genomics to see if they can identify genes that are associated with good mothering. If they find such genes, they can be used to select for these traits in breeding programs, something called marker-assisted selection, and it would be applied to both cows and bulls.

If we can identify a Simmental bull in a three-way or two-way cross that will sire calves that will be good mothers, that would be helpful, Adams said.

Marker-assisted selection is new to the beef industry, but has long proven its worth for dairy cattle.

The SNP technology in dairy cattle has been the single most important advance in genetic selection, I think, in the history of the dairy industry, Adams said.

SNPs, or single nucleotide polymorphisms, are variations in genes that can be used as markers to guide breeding efforts. Adams said that for dairy, it has been a tremendous success story in terms of increased milk production. Steady improvements over the last 50 years mean todays cows are producing three times as much milk.

Its also a cautionary tale since chasing this single trait can come at the expense of others, such as fertility, something dairy breeders are now working to correct.

Fertility is Adams specialty, and he sees exciting potential for beef cattle.

We know using conventional genetic selection, its not been considered very heritable, so progress is slow, he said. But if we use really targeted, SNP-based selection traits, we ought to be able to make real advances in fertility, so we can select at both the dam and the sire side.

One potential goal is timing ovulation in cows so whole herds of 100 animals or more could be served by artificial insemination in a single day. This would have immediate benefits for producers.

It would be nice to have a calving season of three weeks rather than three months, Adams said.

To support such efforts, IntegrOmes is also establishing a biobank at the LFCE for bull semen, cows eggs, and fertilized embryos. The facility will also be used in a parallel program to guide development and conservation of pure bison genetics.

The IntegrOmes research team includes a wide range of expertise, drawn from universities in Saskatchewan and Alberta, as well as Agriculture Canada and the Toronto Zoo. They are examining production indicators such as weight gain and feed efficiency, but also disease detection and control, and behavioural traits like forage preferences. Other projects will look at environmental aspects such as methane production from rumen micro-organisms under different feed and forage regimes.

As genetic testing technology becomes smaller and portable, Adams envisions tools that can be used directly by producers in their day-to-day management.

You could pluck some hair, feed that into a hand-held device, he said. I think these tools are getting so we could actually take them with us to the herd, or the herd owner could have one of these devices that could rapidly screen certain specific bacteria or viruses.

IntegrOmes is funded through $6.75 million over five years by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, matched with another $10.1 million anticipated from the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments, Saskatchewan Cattlemens Association, Agriculture Canada, the LFCE and its supporters.

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Of cow cams, computing and genetics - Western Producer

Genetics

How Stress, Age And Genetics Turn Hair Gray : Short Wave – NPR

Shannon Fagan/Getty Images

Shannon Fagan/Getty Images

Why does hair turn gray? Stress? Age? Genetics? We turn to dermatologist Dr. Jenna Lester for answers.

Have an idea for an episode, or questions for the team? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

This episode was fact-checked by Rasha Aridi, and edited by Gisele Grayson and Viet Le. Dennis Nielson was the audio engineer.

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How Stress, Age And Genetics Turn Hair Gray : Short Wave - NPR

Genetics

Appreciating genetic research that affects our lives – The Star Online

WORLD DNA Day is celebrated every year on April 25 to honour the achievement of the Human Genome Project (HGP), which was completed in April 2003, and the ground-breaking elucidation of the model structure of DNA double helix which was published in Nature magazine on April 25,1953. After the US Congress passed a resolution designating April 25 as DNA Day, the National Human Genome Research Institute began celebrating the day.

The HGP was an international project aimed at discovering the sequence of human DNA and defining all genes that are found in the human genome. The HGP played a big role in explaining the genetics of humans and helped us understand a variety of fundamental questions, including the total number of genes that we have, how our cells function, how diseases develop and what actually happens when we become sick.

The HGP improved biology and medicine because establishing the human genome sequence led to the designing of high-throughput sequencing technologies, and encouraged scientists, doctors and the community to discuss the ethical and social problems raised by such technologies.

Facts discovered about our DNA are quite amazing. For instance, siblings with the same mother and father, except identical twins, share 50% of their DNA. Uncle-nephew or aunt-nephew/niece share 25% of their DNA while cousins share 12.5%. When the HGP was completed, it was found that humans contain approximately 25,000 genes. These genes differ in size from a few hundred DNA bases to over two million bases. Each individual inherits two copies of each gene, one from each parent. Humans are 99.9% genetically similar and it is the 0.1% difference that makes each of us unique.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the HGP is the field of medicine. Data from a patient's genetic profile may assist doctors in selecting the appropriate drug or treatment and administering it at the appropriate dose or regimen. This new approached in healthcare is called personalised or precision medicine. Every day, new genetic data is being profiled and used to improve the implementation of personalised medicine. As more DNA data is understood, personalised medicine may soon become routine and a part of mainstream medicine.

Besides blood, DNA can be extracted from skin, saliva, amniotic fluid and other tissues. These specimens can be studied in a genetic lab for variations in genes, DNA or proteins. Services for such genetic testing are now available online. Many companies are now offering direct to consumer genetic testing which offers the public genetic tests without having to go through a medical doctor.

Anyone can now order a genetic test by contacting these companies which will then send test kits that provide manuals and tools for extracting a saliva sample or a buccal smear that contains DNA in the comfort of their home. The specimen can then be delivered to a laboratory where the search for unique variations in genes or DNA is carried out.

While such direct to consumer genetic testing has helped many people to know more about their DNA, it must be understood that genetic data analysis is complicated and contextual reliant, and the results can yield false positive and false negative outcomes.

Anyone who is worried about the outcome of a direct to consumer genetic test should ask for guidance from a certified clinical geneticist or a genetic counsellor. The public should understand that these new technologies and approaches are intended to assist clinicians and they are not without their limitations and shortcomings.

Geneticists, health professionals, educators and the general public should join hands in the effort to study our DNA and appreciate current developments in genetic research that contribute to advances that affect our lives.

PROF ZILFALIL ALWI

Head, Malaysian Node of the Human Variome Project (MyHVP) & President, Malaysian Society of Human Genetics (MSHG)

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Appreciating genetic research that affects our lives - The Star Online