by Niccolo Caldararo

Received: 19 October 2021;  Published: 11 January 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2201145

The evolution of hominins, members of the zoological tribe Hominini, has been a much-studied topic, and the construction of phylogenetic trees has been the key method in molecular evolutionary studies. How scientists determine the phylogenetic trees are governed by the assumptions they place on the construction of similarities and differences in morphological traits, the differences in the number of base pairs in the genomes, and the number of similar gene clusters that code for traits (haplotypes) or are error seq [...]

by OBM Genetics Editorial Office

Received: 05 January 2022;  Published: 06 January 2022;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2201144

The editors of OBM Genetics would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following reviewers for assessing manuscripts in 2021. We greatly appreciate the contribution of expert reviewers, which is crucial to the journal's editorial process. We aim to recognize reviewer contributions through several mechanisms, of which the annual publication of reviewer names is one. Reviewers receive a voucher entitling them to a discount on their next LIDSEN publication and can download a certificate of recognition direct [...]

by Sean J. O’Sullivan

Received: 17 June 2021;  Published: 17 November 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2104143

Advances in clinical psychiatry have been less than hoped for relative to the achievements in neuroscience. However, developments in neuromodulation and psychedelic therapy are promising. The efficacy of such treatments and canonical pharmacotherapies benefit from genetics and personalized medicine. Moreover, recent studies on the perturbation of transcription, including chromatin remodeling, in mental illness emphasized the importance of single-cell qPCR as an investigatory method that bolstered psychiatry. This [...]

by Sarah Long  , Roanna Lobo  , Peter O'Leary  and Jan E. Dickinson

Received: 07 September 2021;  Published: 03 November 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2104142

Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for a panel of 25 single gene disorders became available in Western Australia in 2020 and potentially may be able to test for panels of hundreds of disorders as is the case with reproductive carrier screening. How this information would be used by parents in a population screening model is unknown. We used a phenomenological approach to explore retrospectively whether mothers of children with single gene or chromosomal disorders would have wanted to know about their child’s gene [...]

by Jean GOLDING  , Rosie Clark  , Steven Gregory  , Genette Ellis  , Matthew Suderman  , Yasmin Iles-Caven  and Marcus E. Pembrey

Received: 17 May 2021;  Published: 29 October 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2104141

The FRAXE section of the FMR2 gene, located on the X chromosome, contains varying numbers of trinucleotide repeats; boys with over 200 repeats tend to have mild cognitive impairments, though this is rare. Little is known, however, concerning the phenotypes of individuals with smaller numbers of repeats. Here we answer the research question as to whether the health of ancestors of boys from whom the relevant X chromosome was inherited differed in any way according to the number of FRAXE repeats. Numbers of FRAXE rep [...]

by Daniel Navon  and Gareth Thomas

Received: 15 July 2021;  Published: 09 October 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2104140

In this article, we discuss the radical uncertainties unleashed by expanded prenatal genetics. We show how we are now routinely screening fetuses in the absence of two essential sorts of information. At the population level, we do not have sound, unbiased data about the prevalence, penetrance, and clinical variability of most mutations. At the level of the proband, it is often too soon to discern relevant information about the fetus’ phenotype. First, we outline the longstanding ethical objections to newborn screen [...]

by Michelle LaBonte

Received: 29 July 2021;  Published: 29 September 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2103139

This article uses cystic fibrosis as a case study to examine how physicians and scientists have navigated uncertainty following newborn screening. Despite the many benefits of newborn screening, including earlier diagnosis, therapeutic intervention, and a reduced diagnostic odyssey, this public health approach also comes with challenges. For example, physicians began to document infants with indeterminate diagnoses - those with a positive screen who did not clearly fit into the cystic fibrosis or “normal” categorie [...]

by Alison Schmidt  and Anthony Shanks

Received: 16 June 2021;  Published: 27 September 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2103138

Cell-free DNA has emerged as the most reliable, non-invasive prenatal screening tool for fetal aneuploidies. It has come to replace the previously widely used quadruple screen offered in the second trimester of pregnancy. This change comes with improved detection for aneuploidy but also presents potential gaps in prenatal diagnosis including detection of open fetal defects and emerging data on prediction of adverse pregnancy outcomes. This review article provides a historical summary of the quadruple marker screen [...]

by Siamak Shirani Bidabadi  , Parisa Sharifi  and S. Mohan Jain

Received: 09 June 2021;  Published: 15 September 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2103137

Plant breeding programs have used conventional breeding methods, such as hybridization, induced mutations, and other methods to manipulate the plant genome within the species' natural genetic boundaries to improve crop varieties. However, repeatedly using conventional breeding methods might lead to the erosion of the gene reservoir, thereby rendering crops vulnerable to environmental stresses and hampering future progress in crop production, food and nutritional security, and socio-economic benefits. Integrating in [...]

by Robert Resta

Received: 22 June 2021;  Published: 01 September 2021;  doi: 10.21926/obm.genet.2103136

The goals of prenatal testing remain controversial and reflect competing interests of public health, patient rights, disability activists, scholars, feminist critics, commercial laboratories, judiciary/legislative trends, and medical science. This paper reviews and critiques the most common justifications of prenatal testing for fetal aneuploidy that have been put forth over the half century of its existence: reducing the medical and economic burden to society of genetic disease through selective abortion, allowing [...]