witzvo comments on Open Thread, November 1 - 7, 2013 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: witzvo 02 November 2013 04:37PM

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Comment author: witzvo 04 November 2013 07:01:10PM *  3 points [-]

... researchers isolated about 100 neurons from three people posthumously. The scientists took a high-level view of the entire genome -- looking for large deletions and duplications of DNA called copy number variations or CNVs -- and found that as many as 41 percent of neurons had at least one unique, massive CNV that arose spontaneously, meaning it wasn't passed down from a parent. The CNVs are spread throughout the genome, the team found.

Edit: see the paper for more precise statements.