Abstractions

摘要

That there is a link between particular variations in our genetic code and diseases is well established. But because researchers cannot usually identify the parental originrnof a sequence variant, until now it was not clear whether or how that origin might affect disease risk. Augustine Kong, a statistical geneticist at deCODE Genetics in Reykjavik, and his colleagues have determined that parental origin can have an important causative role (see page 868). He tells Nature more about the discoveries.