Issues in Biology

Suggesting Genes' Friends, Facebook-Style

European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) (2011, March 24). Suggesting genes' friends, Facebook-style. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 26, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2011/03/110307065541.htm

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), both in Heidelberg, Germany, have developed a new method that uncovers the combined effects of genes. Published online in Nature Methods, it helps understand how different genes can amplify, cancel out or mask each others' effects, and enables scientists to suggest genes that interfere with each other in much the same manner that Facebook suggests friends

To realize the links between genetic make-up and traits like disease susceptibility, scientists now have been turning to genome-wide association studies, in which they compare genetic variants of people with a particular disease to those of healthy people.

In this study the scientists took a set of genes that are essential for cell signaling and, using a technique called RNA interference, silenced those genes two at a time, and compared the effect to what happens when you silence only one or the other member of each pair. In so doing, they were able to identify a new component in a cell-signaling process known as the Ras pathway, which is involved in cellular proliferation, and is known to go awry in tumor cells.

If two people have many friends in common on Facebook, the odds are that those two people know each other -- even if they themselves are not Facebook friends. Similarly, genes that have similar genetic interaction profiles are likely to influence each other's effects, and Huber, Boutros and colleagues can now suggest such 'friends' -- i.e. genes that are likely to affect the same cellular processes. In the long run, this could help predict patient outcomes and adapt treatments for diseases such as cancer.

A good NEWS … a good Application

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends and get updates of from billions of people across the globe.

With this site people of different races are being connected. Now, if we are going to adapt this breakthrough in the field of Molecular Biology then we can say it is really a good news for all of us. We are not just making Facebook as a site for social networking, but also a site for us to be connected with different people that have similar genetic interactions and if we are going to look into consideration our different linkages using our Facebook account in the long run then we can prevent and adapt treatments for diseases .

We just need to accept the reality if ever we find our own genetic structure susceptible to a particular disease. At least we can prepare ourselves for some protection of having such disease or we can anticipate the process of medication if ever.