Science briefing: Light shed on genetic variation

Genes can have a remarkably different effect depending on which parent you inherit them from.

Scientists from deCode Genetics, an Icelandic biotech company, have found a genetic variation that raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes more than 30 per cent if it is inherited from your father, but reduces the chance by more than 10 per cent if it comes from your mother. This makes it the second most important known genetic factor in the development of this form of diabetes.

The study led by Augustine Kong and published in this week’s Nature , uncovered five single-point genetic changes in disease-related regions of the human genome which varied in effect, depending on the direction of parental inheritance.

The findings shed light on why inherited diseases are more complex than originally suspected when the genome was decoded in 2001.

Joseph Milton

Biotech launches stem cell product

The first commercial product from induced pluripotent stem cells – cells made directly from adult cells without involving an embryo – has been launched by Cellular Dynamics International, a US biotech company.

The human heart cells, which beat and exhibit the electrophysiological and biochemical properties of normal heart cells, will be used to test new rugs for safety and effectiveness.

It will be several years before such cells can safely be transplanted into patients, for example to treat heart disease. But in the meantime using them in drug testing should help companies weed out ineffective and potentially toxic compounds early in the R&D process, before significant time and money have been invested in them. Only a tiny proportion of drugs that enter clinical trials make it to market.

The iCell cardiomyocytes are produced on an industrial scale using a cell bank derived from mature human cells that have been reprogrammed to become heart cells in a process devised by James Thomson, a stem cell pioneer from the University of Wisconsin and chief scientist at Cellular Dynamics.

Joseph Milton

Early humans enjoyed cereals

Humans were processing wild cereals for food 100,000 years ago – far earlier than archaeologists had previously thought – according to research published on Friday in the journal Science .

A Canadian team from the University of Calgary found residues of sorghum, still the chief cereal consumed in Africa, on stone tools excavated from the Ngalue cave in Mozambique.

The discovery implies that early humans were processing grains at a time when scientists thought they relied on more easily harvested fruits and nuts. Sorghum is processed by crushing the grain into coarse flours that are used to prepare porridges, baked goods and alcoholic drinks.

“This broadens the timeline for the use of grass seeds by our species, and is proof of an expanded and sophisticated diet much earlier than we believed,” said Julio Mercader, the project leader.

Clive Cookson