Eugenics and Individual Phenotypic Variation: To What Extent Is Biology a Predictive Science?

The ArgumentEugenics, in whatever form it may be articulated, is based on the idea that phenotypic characteristics of particular individuals can be predicted in advance. This paper argues that biology's capacity to predict many of the characteristics exhibited by an individual, especially behavioral or cognitive attributes, will always be very limited. This stems from intrinsic limitations to the methodology for relating genotypes to phenotypes, and from the nature of developmental processes which intervene between genotypes and phenotypes. While genetic studies may generate valid population predictions for conditions which impact human health, neither genetics nor developmental biology are likely to generate useful individual predictions about variation in non-disease-related human behavioral and cognitive phenotypes in the foreseeable future.

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Human health and phenotypic variation

Developmental Instability: Its Origins and Evolutionary Implications - Contemporary Issues in Genetics and Evolution ◽

10.1007/978-94-011-0830-0_29 ◽

1994 ◽

pp. 407-419

Author(s):

F. Clarke Fraser

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Phenotypic Variation

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Phenotypic variation between parent–offspring trios and non-trios in genetic studies of schizophrenia

Journal of Psychiatric Research ◽

10.1016/j.jpsychires.2005.05.006 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 40 (7) ◽

pp. 622-626 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

S ZAMMIT ◽

G LEWIS ◽

A THAPAR ◽

R OWEN ◽

G JONES ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Variation ◽

Genetic Studies

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Capturing Processes

10.1093/oso/9780198779636.003.0013 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Nuño de la Rosa

Keyword(s):

Developmental Biology ◽

Quantitative Imaging ◽

Time Lapse ◽

First Century ◽

Biological Processes ◽

In Vivo Microscopy ◽

Developmental Processes ◽

Biological Entities ◽

Time Lapse Imaging

While a processual view of biological entities might be said to be congenial to embryologists, the intractability and speed of developmental processes traditionally led to an epistemological abandon of processes in favour of the advantages of discretizing ontogenies in arrays of patterns. It is not until the turn of the twenty-first century that the digital embryos obtained from in vivo microscopy have started to replace developmental series as the reference representations of development. This chapter looks at how new microscopy, molecular, and computer technologies for reconstructing biological processes are contributing to a processual understanding of development. First it investigates how time-lapse imaging has brought with it a radical dynamization, not only of the images, but also of the theories of development themselves. Next it explores the role that imaging technologies have played in the return of organicism in developmental biology. Finally, it focuses on how quantitative imaging contributes to the explanatory modelling of developmental processes.

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Digitalizing the Microbiome for Human Health

mSystems ◽

10.1128/msystems.00129-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kirti Nath ◽

Christoph A. Thaiss

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Human Body ◽

Human Disease ◽

Population Studies ◽

Health Assessment ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Genetic Studies ◽

Host Physiology ◽

Host Metabolism

ABSTRACT The microbiome has recently joined the club of endocrine entities of the human body that are involved in homeostasis and disease. Microbiome characterizations are now typically included in longitudinal and cross-sectional population studies, associations with microbiome features have been made for almost any human disease, and the molecules by which the microbiome functionally contributes to host physiology are being elucidated. The leverage of these efforts for human health, however, is still rather modest. In this Perspective, we summarize some of the challenges that need to be overcome in order to make microbiome studies as informative for human health as genetic studies. Focusing on the role of the microbiome in host metabolism and inflammation, we also outline potential strategies that can be employed to achieve the next milestones in the journey toward microbiome-informed human health assessment and action.

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Species level phenotypic variation in lower Paleozoic trilobites

Paleobiology ◽

10.1017/s0094837300019941 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 17-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Loren H. Smith

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Natural Selection ◽

Phenotypic Variation ◽

Species Level ◽

Raw Material ◽

Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽

Developmental Processes ◽

Lower Paleozoic ◽

Time Periods

Phenotypic variation within species provides the raw material acted upon by natural selection and other evolutionary mechanisms. As such, the range and variation of morphology within a species can play an important role in determining the tempo of evolution. The range and variance of aspects of cranidial morphology for nine lower Paleozoic trilobites were measured to identify microevolutionary correlates of macroevolutionary patterns. Comparisons were made among sets of homologous landmarks or upon partial warp vector matrices containing similar proportions of variance. Rarefaction and bootstrap analyses helped estimate the effects of sampling. Levels of variance and range of morphology differed considerably within and among time periods. There is no significant temporal decline in the variance or range of morphology, suggesting that developmental or genomic constraints may not have been the primary factors controlling the tempo of trilobite macroevolution. The spatial distribution of cranidial variance differed considerably among taxa, suggesting that a complex set of developmental processes governed the morphogenesis of cranidia within trilobites.

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Molecular Epidemiology of Invasive Listeriosis due toListeria monocytogenesin a Spanish Hospital over a Nine-Year Study Period, 2006–2014

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2015/191409 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Jaime Ariza-Miguel ◽

María Isabel Fernández-Natal ◽

Francisco Soriano ◽

Marta Hernández ◽

Beatrix Stessl ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Relatedness ◽

Growth Patterns ◽

Phenotypic Characteristics ◽

Genetic Studies ◽

Epidemiological Analysis ◽

Spanish Hospital ◽

Northwestern Spain ◽

High Degree ◽

Sequence Types ◽

Invasion Assays

We investigated the pathogenicity, invasiveness, and genetic relatedness of 17 clinicalListeria monocytogenesstains isolated over a period of nine years (2006–2014). All isolates were phenotypically characterised and growth patterns were determined. The antimicrobial susceptibility ofL. monocytogenesisolates was determined in E-tests. Invasion assays were performed with epithelial HeLa cells. Finally,L. monocytogenesisolates were subtyped by PFGE and MLST. All isolates had similar phenotypic characteristics (β-haemolysis and lecithinase activity), and three types of growth curve were observed. Bacterial recovery rates after invasion assays ranged from 0.09% to 7.26% (1.62 ± 0.46). MLST identified 11 sequence types (STs), and 14 PFGE profiles were obtained, indicating a high degree of genetic diversity. Genetic studies unequivocally revealed the occurrence of one outbreak of listeriosis in humans that had not previously been reported. This outbreak occurred in October 2009 and affected three patients from neighbouring towns. In conclusion, the molecular epidemiological analysis clearly revealed a cluster (three human cases, all ST1) of not previously reported listeriosis cases in northwestern Spain. Our findings indicate that molecular subtyping, in combination with epidemiological case analysis, is essential and should be implemented in routine diagnosis, to improve the tracing of the sources of outbreaks.

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Control mechanisms in developmental processes. The twenty-sixth symposium of the society for developmental biology. Edited by Michael Locke. Academic Press, New York. 302 pp. 1968

Teratology ◽

10.1002/tera.1420020214 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 173-175

Author(s):

Daphne G. Trasler

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Developmental Biology ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

Academic Press ◽

Developmental Processes ◽

Sixth Symposium

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Phenotype Heritability in holobionts: An Evolutionary Model

10.1101/2020.05.05.079137 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Saúl Huitzil ◽

Santiago Sandoval-Motta ◽

Alejandro Frank ◽

Maximino Aldana

Keyword(s):

Regulatory Networks ◽

Evolutionary Model ◽

Complex Diseases ◽

Missing Heritability ◽

Phenotypic Characteristics ◽

Genetic Studies ◽

Genomic Signatures ◽

High Incidence ◽

Gene Regulatory ◽

Missing Heritability Problem

AbstractMany complex diseases are expressed with high incidence only in certain populations. Genealogy studies determine that these diseases are inherited with a high probability. However, genetic studies have been unable to identify the genomic signatures responsible for such heritability, as identifying the genetic variants that make a population prone to a given disease is not enough to explain its high occurrence within the population. This gap is known as the missing heritability problem. We know that the microbiota plays a very important role in determining many important phenotypic characteristics of its host, in particular, the complex diseases for which the missing heritability occurs. Therefore, when computing the heritability of a phenotype it is important to consider not only the genetic variation in the host but also in its microbiota. Here we test this hypothesis by studying an evolutionary model based on gene regulatory networks. Our results show that the holobiont (the host plus its microbiota) is capable of generating a much larger variability than the host alone, greatly reducing the missing heritability of the phenotype. This result strongly suggests that a considerably large part of the missing heritability can be attributed to the microbiome.

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The identification and human health significance of environmental aeromonads

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1995.0621 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 31 (5-6) ◽

pp. 263-269 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

N. J. Ashbolt ◽

A. Ball ◽

M. Dorsch ◽

C. Turner ◽

P. Cox ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Virulence Factors ◽

Sewage Effluent ◽

Tissue Necrosis ◽

Marine Waters ◽

Phenotypic Characteristics ◽

Predominant Species ◽

Treated Sewage ◽

Health Significance ◽

Freshwater Eutrophication

Aeromonads readily grow in waters, particularly if nutrified, to concentrations in excess of total coliforms. Strains of aeromonads can cause gastroenteritis and tissue necrosis. Several suspected virulence factors, such as haemolysins, cytotoxins and enterotoxins may be involved in their pathogenesis. Amongst the thirteen recognised hybridisation groups of Aeromonas, only five species were identified by eight phenotypic characteristics from 339 strains isolated from marine, fresh river or storm waters or from tertiary and sewage/primary effluents. The majority of strains (50%) showed atypical phenotypes, and 24% of 208 randomly selected strains were not identified as aeromonads with a genus specific 16S rDNA-targeted PCR. Most discrepancies occurred with A. schubertii phenotypes, none of which were identified as aeromonads by PCR. Marine waters contained the largest proportion of atypical phenotypes (45/67) of which 60%, compared to <20% for other water sources, were not identified as aeromonads by PCR. A. hydrophila was generally the predominant species identified (93/339), although A. caviae was more prevalent in tertiary treated sewage effluents. Freshwaters contained the largest proportion of aeromonads with haemolysin and/or enterotoxin activity, whereas cytotoxin activity was more prevalent from stormwater isolates. Freshwater strains of A. veronii biotype sobria and A. hydrophila appeared to be the most toxigenic. Furthermore, river sites downstream of sewage effluent release contained more aeromonads than sites immediately upstream of the discharge. Hence, there was a clear positive correlation between freshwater eutrophication and the presence of potentially virulent aeromonads, the majority of which were A. hydrophila and A. veronii which can most rapidly and accurately be identified by PCR.

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