New gene linked to key heart attack risk factor found by novel gene-finding approach
Monday, March 17, 2014 - 12:21
in Biology & Nature
A previously unrecognized gene variation that makes humans have healthier blood lipid levels and reduced risk of heart attacks has been found by researchers. But even more significant is how they found the gene, which had been hiding in plain sight. This region of DNA where it was found had been implicated as being important in controlling blood lipid levels in a report from several members of the same research team in 2008. But although this DNA region had many genes, none of them had any obvious link to blood lipid levels. The promise of an entirely new lipid-related gene took another six years and a new approach to find.