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Networks of genes linked to obesity have been uncovered. Getty Researchers have used a new technique to identify networks of genes linked to obesity in both mice and humans. The procedure is more comprehensive than the traditional method of hunting for genes associated with disease, and is already being used to identify new drug targets. Over the past year, a flurry of studies have revealed genetic variations associated with disease. These ‘genome-wide association studies’ have been used to find variants associated with everything from heart disease to diabetes (See Genome studies: Genetics by numbers).Traditionally, single genes are linked with particular...

Genetic mutation raises risk of colon cancer in Caucasians but not in Japanese. Geneticists searching for genetic variants that raise the risk of colorectal cancer have found the first one to have an effect specific for a particular ethnic group. The mutation boosts the risk of colon cancer in Caucasians by 10%, but has no such effect in the Japanese population. The gene variant is the first known to boost the risk of colon cancer, the world's third most common form of cancer, in one population group but not in another, says Malcolm Dunlop of the University of Edinburgh, UK,...