Aug 13, 2020
Gavin Douglas and colleagues
published a paper assessing microbiome research and assertions that
the
human microbiome explains missing heritability in
nature.
He discusses this issue and explains
Gavin Douglas is a PhD Candidate
in the Langille Lab in the Deptartment of Microbiology and
Immunology at Dalhousie University. His background is in human
genetics and he has just published an intriguing paper called
“Re-evaluating
the relationship between missing heritability and the
microbiome” in the
journal Microbiome.
He helps listeners understand the basics regarding the issue by
explaining heritability as the proportion of variation in a
phenotype in a given population explained by genetic variance. He
offers more background to this standard and then explains the “case
of the missing heritability,” which basically indicates the
variation that isn’t explained.
Several hypotheses have emerged
to explain this missing heritability, several of which are tied to
the
human microbiome. He describes how, for example, a holobiont
model of a human organism puts forward a hologenome—a combined
genome that includes the microbiome and might capture the missing
heritability. The article discusses this theory and points out ways
it doesn’t quite fit.
For example, the holobiont doesn’t present a combined evolutionary
unit that transmits over generations. But he does think the
microbiome plays a role in this mystery. He explains how and why
and different ways scientists use these ideas.
For more, follow him on twitter
as @gavin_m_douglas and read the open-access paper here:
Re-evaluating the relationship
between missing heritability and the
microbiome.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK