HAPMAPS LINK DISEASE, GENES

摘要

More than is million elderly americans slowly lose their eyesight due to age-related macular degeneration: an accumulation of inflammation-related protein and fat beneath the center of the retina that slowly destroys it. The disorder runs in families, but the gene responsible had eluded scientists. In March three separate teams announced that they had zeroed in on a DNA sequence on chromosome 1 that carries the gene for complement factor H, a protein involved in regulating inflammation. A mutation in this gene may account for about half the cases of macular degeneration in the United States.