Assistant Professor Takashi Makino at Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University and Dr. Aoife McLysaght at Trinity College, Ireland have identified genes whose numbers do not easily change by the study on evolutionary patterns of genes. Interestingly, many of these genes are related to diseases. In particular, as much as 75% of genes related to Down syndrome that is caused by chromosomal defects are in these genes. The newly discovered genes seem to have genes whose relations with the disease is unknown. A study on new candidate genes is expected to be applied to researches on early detection and improved treatment of Down syndrome.

 The research result has been published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on May 4, 2010 (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/ recent). The paper’s title is “Ohnologs in the human genome are dosage balanced and frequently associated with disease.”

More Information (Japanese)

[Contact]

Assistant Professor Takashi Makino

Tohoku University Ecosystem Adaptability Global COE

Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University

TEL: +81-22-795-6689

E-mail: tamakino*m.tains.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)