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Related Concept Videos

Heritability01:06

Heritability

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Heritability is a statistical concept that measures the degree to which genetic differences among individuals contribute to trait variations within a population. It is a fundamental idea in genetics, often prone to misinterpretation. Heritability is expressed as a percentage, reflecting the proportion of variation in a specific trait across a population that can be linked to genetic differences. However, it's important to understand that heritability does not determine how "genetic"...
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Mismatch Repair01:36

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Mismatch Repair01:20

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Organisms are capable of detecting and fixing nucleotide mismatches that occur during DNA replication. This sophisticated process requires identifying the new strand and replacing the erroneous bases with correct nucleotides. Mismatch repair is coordinated by many proteins in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
The Mutator Protein Family Plays a Key Role in DNA Mismatch Repair
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Human Genetics01:28

Human Genetics

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Human genetics provides a profound framework for understanding the interplay between genetic predispositions and human psychology. At the heart of this discipline lies the study of how genes influence physical traits, behaviors, and susceptibility to diseases. Each person carries a unique genetic code that subtly or significantly shapes their psychological and behavioral landscape.
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Behavioral Genetics and Its Designs01:23

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Behavior genetics explores how genetic inheritance influences human behavior. It focuses on how genes, passed from parents to offspring, contribute to the development of behavioral traits and tendencies. This branch of genetics seeks to understand the complex interplay between inherited genetic factors and environmental influences in shaping our behaviors.
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Diploid organisms inherit genetic material through chromosomes from both parents. Copies of the same gene are known as alleles. In most cases, both alleles are simultaneously expressed and allow various cellular processes to function optimally. If one of the alleles is missing or mutated, the expression of the other allele can compensate; however, this is not true for all genes.
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...
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Microbiota Analysis Using Two-step PCR and Next-generation 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing
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The Human Microbiome and the Missing Heritability Problem.

Santiago Sandoval-Motta1, Maximino Aldana1,2, Esperanza Martínez-Romero3

  • 1Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico City, Mexico.

Frontiers in Genetics
|June 30, 2017
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Summary

The human microbiome

Keywords:
GWAS (genome-wide association studies)MWAS (metagenome-wide association studies)holobiont ecologymicrobiomemissing heritability

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Area of Science:

  • Genetics
  • Microbiology
  • Human Biology

Background:

  • The "missing heritability" problem highlights a gap between heritability estimates from familial studies and Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS).
  • Existing explanations like epigenetics and epistasis do not fully resolve this discrepancy in complex trait heritability.
  • Familial studies often assume genetic similarity, potentially overestimating heritability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of human microbiome diversity in explaining the "missing heritability" of complex human traits.
  • To propose a novel approach for incorporating microbiome data into Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS).

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on heritability, GWAS, and the human microbiome.
  • Analysis of observations linking microbiome composition to human traits and genetic variation.
  • Proposal of a methodological framework to integrate microbiome data into GWAS.

Main Results:

  • The human microbiome possesses a vast genetic repertoire (a "second genome") that contributes significantly to phenotypic variation.
  • Microbiome composition is influenced by host genetics, behavior, environment, and transmission, but host genetics alone cannot explain microbial variation.
  • Familial studies may overestimate heritability due to unacknowledged shared microbial influences.

Conclusions:

  • The compositional and functional diversity of the human microbiome is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of phenotypic heritability.
  • Integrating microbiome data into GWAS is essential for accurately accounting for genetic and non-genetic influences on complex traits.
  • This approach can help resolve the "missing heritability" problem by considering the microbiome's genetic contribution.