ABOVE: The mouse on the left overexpresses the IRF6 gene and shares malformations with the mouse on the right, which has the gene Tfap2aknocked out. The mouse in the middle is wildtype. “The defects are so distinctive and yet so similar,” says Brian Schutte of Michigan State University, in an email. “As a scientist, it was the juxtaposition of these two images that inspired the WHOLE story.”
YOUSSEF KOUSA
Neural tube defects such as spina bifida, where a part of the spinal cord fails to close, may be caused by the same genes that lead to cleft lip and palate, according to a report last week (January 25) in Human Molecular Genetics. Scientists had previously thought the biological events surrounding neural tube and facial development were unrelated, but these new results, from both mouse models and human samples, link them in a way that may have to do with the timing ...
