Nature Neuroscience recently published 25 new candidate genes for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Researchers found the genes by sequencing the exomes of patient-parent trios. Variations within the genes must have arisen de novo in each offspring, according to the research, because they were not present in either the father or the mother.
The same trio technique could offer insights into other conditions such as Alzheimers or Parkinsons, said study senior author Aaron Gitler of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
The 25 genes perform a variety of functions, but five of them are involved in chromatin remodeling, the process by which proteins unwind or rewind DNA packaging to regulate transcription.
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