Are Scientists Ignoring Environmental Influence on Genetic Research?
In yet another collision of nature versus nurture, a team of scientists at the University of Arizona says the genetic research community must control for the environment when conducting experiments, because it may well affect the results. The Study: The group specifically targets studies that utilize knockout mice, a technique developed in the late 1980s in which strains of mice are bred with specific genes turned off. The methodology is used to try to determine whether disorders ranging from sickle cell anemia to alcoholism have a genetic component. According to the new study—published in the current issue of PLoS ONE—environmental differences can mask or exaggerate phenotypes or behaviors even if a gene’s function has been disabled. The Arizona researchers studied whether cage conditions affect mice with one copy of a gene called fibulin-4, a member of a family of genes believed to code for proteins that stabilize the connective tissue found between cells in arteries and other blood
