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Thursday, 31 October 2013

Is it really possible to modify facial features?

Is it really possibly to modify facial features? Some might think, its an unwanted question. But in reality, there are some news which says human are next. :D :) Are you surprised? 

Scientists at Berkeley have done a series of studies where they identified thousands of DNA regions responsible for influencing the development of facial features. Currently they have undergone experiment in mice, where they tried to modify the face of embryonic mice. The question is, are humans next? 

The shape of the face is one of the most distinctive features among humans, and differences in facial morphology have substantial implications in areas such as social interaction, psychology, forensics and clinical genetics. New researches shows that our unique facial features are developed by more than 4000 small regions of DNA (candidate enhancer sequences), but only a few genetic alterations required to shape our faces. As we know, the shape of the face is highly heritable. But new studies have identified distant-acting transcriptional enhancers active in the developing of facial shape. Scientists studies their activity patterns in details in transgenic mice. Selected enhancers were deleted from the genome in mice in order to examine their role in modulating facial morphology. It showed some significant effects of enhancers on the shape of the face and skull.  
CT scan of a mouse's face undergoing experiment
Identifying developmental enhancers contribute to facial morphology


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