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

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

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Comment author: JoshuaZ 04 November 2013 01:35:47AM 8 points [-]

New research suggests that the amount of variance in DNA among individual cells in a person may be much higher than is normally believed. See here.

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.

Comment author: CellBioGuy 05 November 2013 05:19:59AM *  2 points [-]

I've already seen work to the effect that somatic cells often have ~10x the point mutations per human generation as the germline, which is protected by a small number of divisions per generation and low levels of metabolism and transcription. It was in mitochondrial rather than nuclear DNA, but the idea is similar.