Heritable vs non-heritable modifications The Codex Alimentarius Commission of the United Nations is preparing guidelines for safety assessment of foods derived from recombinant-DNA animals [1], which is a sure sign that GM animal food is coming to our table. Codex distinguishes between heritable and non-heritable genetic modification of food animals. Heritable genetic modification involves gene...

The role that genes play in human intelligence or IQ has remained a point of significant scientific debate dating back to the time of Galton [1]. It has now become increasingly clear that IQ is heritable in humans, but these effects can be modified by nongenetic mechanisms [2-4]. In contrast to human IQ, until recently, views of learning and cognition in animals have largely been dominated by t...

THIS book is the outcome of a symposium held on 1st and 2nd December 1977, at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. There is little doubt that genetic factors have become increasingly important in the aetiology of disease, and it has been estimated that some 5 -7%o of the population will suffer from a disorder with a genetic basis. The first five chapters of the book cover basic topics ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Disease of the wall of the thoracic aorta has many causes: inflammation, infection and atherosclerosis are the most common 'acquired' causes, but even these have genetic predispositions. This article deals with aortic disease due to mutations in specific genes. The conditions can affect tissues and organs other than the aorta (syndromic) or be limited to the aorta (nonsyndromi...

Although heritable microorganisms are increasingly recognized as widespread in insects, no systematic screens for such symbionts have been conducted in Drosophila species (the primary insect genetic models for studies of evolution, development, and innate immunity). Previous efforts screened relatively few Drosophila lineages, mainly for Wolbachia. We conducted an extensive survey of potentiall...