Genetics of Jewish lineages

Dr. Hammer, in the news again… a nice mix of science and religion working together 🙂

Chromosomal curiosity

As women age, their eggs are more likely to have the wrong number of chromosomes, which can lead to miscarriages. But when Joris Vermeesch from the Centre for Human Genetics in Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues examined 23 embryos from nine young, fertile couples who were undergoing IVF for screening purposes, they found that 21 had chromosomal abnormalities, suggesting these are in fact the norm (Nature Medicine, DOI: 10.1038/nm.1924).

via Chromosome clue to human miscarriage – New Scientist.

XY = girl?

You learn something new everyday… for example you can have a Y chromosome and be genetically a male, but phenotypically be a perfectly normal female.

A seven-year-old girl with a Y chromosome is providing new clues about a possible “master switch” of maleness.

The girl has the normal chromosome count – 46 – and should be male. Other children who have the male sex chromosome but do not appear to be boys have been found to have gene mutations that temper the Y chromosome’s effects. However this child doesn’t have ambiguous gonads, shrivelled testes or other developmental defects. She instead has a normal vagina, cervix and set of ovaries.

A team led by Anna Biason-Lauber, of University Children’s Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, thinks the patient’s normalcy is due to mutations in a poorly understood gene on chromosome 17 called CBX2.

via Girl with Y chromosome sheds light on maleness

Game Theory and Genetics coalesce

Two of my favorite topics, Game Theory and Genetics, come together in the modern age