Article Abstract:
The search for the gene responsible for Huntington's disease (HD) was an effort that spanned a decade through the collaborative efforts of an international group of scientists. The result of all this work has been the identification of the HD gene in a 10,366-base-pair region in chromosome 4. The occurence of HD is associated with an abnormal number of copies of a repeating CAG motif. Such abnormal trinucleotide expansion has also been associated with myotonic dystrophy, fragile X syndrome and spinal bulbar muscular atrophy. However, the disease mechanism is still unresolved, since the function of the isolated gene remains unknown.
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Article Abstract:
A new website linked to newly published research on gene mapping provides the positions of over 30,000 genes from one end to the other of the human DNA molecule. This doubles the known positions of genes. Radiation hybrids have been used to assign gene locations. Knowledge of the location of a gene in DNA helps in identifying the location of genes linked to genetic disorders. Research can then be computerized and speeded up. The gene-mapping also allows for signposts to be identified for human DNA.
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Article Abstract:
The Human Genome Project is publishing partial maps of the Y chromosome and of chromosome 21 in Oct 1992 that bring the Project closer to its objective of putting together a map of the entire human genome or genetic sequence. David Page and colleagues developed the Y chromosome map while Ilya Chumakov and colleagues produced the chromosome 21 map. Both research groups used cloned DNA to obtain the maps, indicating that this method is preferable to using restriction sites or recombination.
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