研究人员发现，遗传和环境因素均能影响基因表达的变异，新成果发表在2009年12月在线出版的《自然―遗传学》（Nature Genetics）期刊上。基因表达通常会被研究人员用于基因活性水平的测量，被误导的基因表达会导致疾病并扰乱发育程序。此外，乡村和城市的生活方式对多种疾病的影响也各不相同，如哮喘、糖尿病和癌症等。
为了研究遗传和地理因素对基因表达的影响，Greg Gibson和同事合作，分析了来自南摩洛哥一个城市和两个乡村的194位阿拉伯族裔和Amazigh族裔人的白细胞（白血球）样品。他们发现，环境位置对基因表达有实质性影响。然而，还需要进一步的工作以确定这些表达上的差异如何影响了城市和乡村居民的健康风险。
他们还分析了这194人的基因组，发现只有几百个遗传变异影响了全部样品所在位置的基因表达。这项研究表明，除了遗传因素之外，环境因素对遗传表达的变异也产生了影响。
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Nature Genetics doi:10.1038/ng.495
Geographical genomics of human leukocyte gene expression variation in southern Morocco
Youssef Idaghdour,Wendy Czika,Kevin V Shianna,Sang H Lee,Peter M Visscher,Hilary C Martin,Kelci Miclaus,Sami J Jadallah,David B Goldstein,Russell D Wolfinger" Greg Gibson
Studies of the genetics of gene expression can identify expression SNPs (eSNPs) that explain variation in transcript abundance. Here we address the robustness of eSNP associations to environmental geography and population structure in a comparison of 194 Arab and Amazigh individuals from a city and two villages in southern Morocco. Gene expression differed between pairs of locations for up to a third of all transcripts, with notable enrichment of transcripts involved in ribosomal biosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation. Robust associations were observed in the leukocyte samples: cis eSNPs (P & 10?08) were identified for 346 genes, and trans eSNPs (P & 10?11) for 10 genes. All of these associations were consistent both across the three sample locations and after controlling for ancestry and relatedness. No evidence of large-effect trans-acting mediators of the pervasive environmental influence was found; instead, genetic and environmental factors acted in a largely additive manner.
