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Why do people react differently to the same environment? Researchers at North Carolina State University and Oregon State University have highlighted a genetic difference in zebrafish linked to different responses to the same environmental chemical. The work could have implications for identifying the genetic factors that explain the differential chemical sensitivity.
"We believe that the interaction between an individual's genetics and the environment is key to answering questions such as" Why do some drugs work well? No other? & # 39; or "Why does pollution affect people differently?" "Says David Reif, an associate professor of biology at NC State and corresponding author of the study. "We wanted to address two related issues: Do tens of thousands of chemicals to which we are exposed, some of them cause differential sensitivity, are there genetic factors that explain differential sensitivity?"
State analyzed the high throughput screening data to find patterns of interindividual variability in response to chemical exposure: in other words, they searched for chemicals that elicited different responses individuals. Eventually, they reduced thousands of potential chemicals to one: abamectin. Abamectin is a commonly used antiparasite that has shown differential sensitivity in zebrafish.
In a series of tests, the researchers examined the effect of abamectin on zebrafish during the early stages of development. They then compared the genomes of affected (abnormally developed) zebrafish versus unaffected (normally developed, or "healthy") fish and found an association with the Sox7 gene, which controls how the body forms in animals. vertebrates. Zebrafish affected by abamectin had a slightly different variant of the sox7 gene than unaffected individuals. In addition, the affected zebrafish expressed a lower level of their sox7 gene in targeted monitoring experiments.
"This study is a starting point for confirming that individuals can react differently to chemicals in the environment." Our high throughput screening approach allows us to quickly screen chemical exposures to which we are exposed and to look for relationships between genetics and environmental exposure, rather than being limited to preselected candidate exposures. "The research appears in Environmental Health Perspectives and was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grants U01 ES027294, P42 ES005948, P30 ES025128, P42 ES016465, 5T32 ES007329); the Environmental Protection Agency (STAR Grants 835168 and 835796); and the research research from the National Science Foundation for Graduates, DGE-1252376. The team included former graduate student Michelle Balik-Me isner (first author) and Elizabeth Scholl of NC State; and Lisa Truong, Jane La Du and Robert Tanguay of Oregon State University
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