ADRB2 polymorphism and athletic performance

Perhaps another candidate gene of interest to Heather...

Genetic evidence of local adaptation in humans

Nice Ann Gibbons article on local adaptation in humans, including variants associated with how

"highland Tibetans survive at high altitude. Others allow Yupik Eskimos to stay warm efficiently, Europeans to thrive on cereal grains, and, perhaps, East Asians avoid alcoholism."

eik, a "gene for" pain

New paper in Genome Research:

Cacng2 -- "a gene that seems to contribute to chronic pain in a mouse model of human disorders such as phantom limb pain"

the "not-missing heredity" of morphological variation in dogs

New PLoSBio paper: >900dogs of 80 breeds (+wild), 61k SNPs and morphological measurements --> relatively few loci explain the majority of phenotypic (morphological) variation

(thanks Dieter!)

HuGE Navigator

This site will be useful for looking up candidate genes: a "searchable knowledge base of genetic associations" (thanks Sameer!)

recent positive selection on genes associated with/linked to male pattern baldness

From the paper (AGA = pattern baldness):

Interestingly, it is the AGA risk haplotype that
shows evidence for positive selection in the European
population. The AGA risk haplotype also carries a derived
non-synonymous allele (57K) in the flanking ectodysplasin
A2 receptor gene (EDA2R). The 57K allele may have been
the target of positive selection in East Asians: it shows
large allele frequency diverences between populations,
lies in a likely functional domain of the
EDA2R protein, and the ancestral allele, 57R, is conserved
from human to rat. Thus, the AGA risk haplotype may have
hitchhiked to high frequency in Europeans as a result of
positive selection on the linked 57K allele in EDA2R

more interesting candidate genes: size, longevity, behavioral stereotypes

This dog study is > a year old, but I only just discovered it:

Candidate genes associated with size, longevity, and behavioral stereotypes of dogs (New Scientist seems esp interested in high strung chihuahuas)

genetics of dog hair (length and curl)

new Science Express paper from Ostrander lab: Variation in dog coat phenotypes largely due to mutations at just 3 genes (RSPO2, FGF5, and KRT71).

This is exciting -- for several reasons!

here is an NPR snippet about the article (thanks for tip, Monica):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112292082&sc=fb&cc=fp

sleep genes

I think I might have fixed the links problem...

I'll test it with this science article (tip from Jason) on the DEC2 gene and the evolution of sleep

-- surely some diurnal vs cathemeral vs nocturnal projects there...