Research Article: Study Identifies Genes Associated with Genomic Expansions that Cause Disease

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Study Identifies Genes Associated with Genomic Expansions that Cause Disease

A study of more than 6,000 genes in a common species of yeast has identified the pathways that govern the instability of GAA/TTC repeats. In humans, the expansions of these repeats is known to inactivate a gene ? FXN ? which leads to Friedreich?s ataxia, a neurodegenerative disease that is currently incurable. In yeast, long repeats also destabilize the genome, manifested by the breakage of chromosomes. 

Source: Study Identifies Genes Associated with Genomic Expansions that Cause Disease