0000000000306592
AUTHOR
Almut Nebel
Meta-Analysis of the INSIG2 Association with Obesity Including 74,345 Individuals: Does Heterogeneity of Estimates Relate to Study Design?
The INSIG2 rs7566605 polymorphism was identified for obesity (BMI≥30 kg/m2) in one of the first genome-wide association studies, but replications were inconsistent. We collected statistics from 34 studies (n = 74,345), including general population (GP) studies, population-based studies with subjects selected for conditions related to a better health status (‘healthy population’, HP), and obesity studies (OB). We tested five hypotheses to explore potential sources of heterogeneity. The meta-analysis of 27 studies on Caucasian adults (n = 66,213) combining the different study designs did not support overall association of the CC-genotype with obesity, yielding an odds ratio (OR) of 1.05 (p-va…
A 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer already plagued by Yersinia pestis.
Summary A 5,000-year-old Yersinia pestis genome (RV 2039) is reconstructed from a hunter-fisher-gatherer (5300–5050 cal BP) buried at Riņņukalns, Latvia. RV 2039 is the first in a series of ancient strains that evolved shortly after the split of Y. pestis from its antecessor Y. pseudotuberculosis ∼7,000 years ago. The genomic and phylogenetic characteristics of RV 2039 are consistent with the hypothesis that this very early Y. pestis form was most likely less transmissible and maybe even less virulent than later strains. Our data do not support the scenario of a prehistoric pneumonic plague pandemic, as suggested previously for the Neolithic decline. The geographical and temporal distributi…
Emerging genetic patterns of the european neolithic: Perspectives from a late neolithic bell beaker burial site in Germany
The transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture in Europe is associated with demographic changes that may have shifted the human gene pool of the region as a result of an influx of Neolithic farmers from the Near East. However, the genetic composition of populations after the earliest Neolithic, when a diverse mosaic of societies that had been fully engaged in agriculture for some time appeared in central Europe, is poorly known. At this period during the Late Neolithic (ca. 2,8002,000 BC), regionally distinctive burial patterns associated with two different cultural groups emerge, Bell Beaker and Corded Ware, and may reflect differences in how these societies were organized. Ancie…
MICRODISSECTION AND DOP-PCR-BASED REVERSE CHROMOSOME PAINTING AS A FAST AND RELIABLE STRATEGY IN THE ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS STRUCTURAL CHROMOSOME ABNORMALITIES
Reverse chromosome painting has become a powerful tool in clinical genetics for the characterization of cytogenetically unclassifiable aberrations. In this report, the application of a sensitive and rapid procedure for the complete and precise identification of four different de novo structural chromosome abnormalities is presented. These chromosome rearrangements include a marker derived from chromosome 3(cen-q11), an interstitial deletion of chromosome 13 [del(13)(q14q22)], an unbalanced translocation [46,XY, -4, +der(4)t(4;8)(p 15.2;p21.1)] leading to Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, and a partial inverted duplication in conjunction with a partial deletion of chromosome 5p [46,XX, -5, +der(5)(:…