I'm Infected by your genetics

[dancerjodi]

Since some friends were debating this concept when we viewed http://www.repo-opera.com/, here's an article on genes and the role they may play in developing infections: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101627003

Comments

[jhenaphere.livejournal.com]

I was just giving the movie poetic license to say "infected by your genetics" because it does work better in a song than "I inherited your genetics" and still gets the point across. The idea in the article above is really interesting, that having certain alleles of certain genes can make you more susceptible to an infection, but in the movie I think it was that she had a straightforward genetic disorder, and hence not technically "infected" by some pathogen.

Still interesting to thing about, its a great article!!

[deadwinter.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I've been complaining about this more than you :P

Have you heard about this weird cancer Tazmanain devils get, that is actually transited by prions when they fight? Now that is genetic infestation.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

As long as we're being pedantic, I feel compelled to note that prions are not a matter of genetics since they are not produced from DNA via RNA (unlike other proteins).

[deadwinter.livejournal.com]

very true. I stand corrected.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

We've known that there is a strong genetic component to leprosy for quite a long time, to the point where 2/3 of humanity can't get the disease (well, that was the fraction last I checked, which was over a decade ago). I'm glad we're finally at the point where we can explore less obvious genetic aspects to other infectious diseases.