TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic research and nutritional individuality
AU - Eckhardt, R. B.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - Recent genetic research builds on a base established over the last century by physicians and nutritional scientists, who introduced the concept of biochemical individuality and documented its significance for understanding a wide variety of problems in human health. Current comparative genomic investigations on a variety of organisms (Haemophilus influenzae, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Homo sapiens) have established the existence of numerous orthologs (proteins in different organisms that show significant sequence similarities over 80% of their lengths), suggesting significant conservation of structure and probably some of function as well. At the same time, molecular comparisons among individuals within our own species show the existence of abundant molecular variants, many of which have been shown to have functional significance in nutritional and related metabolic contexts. The combination of biochemical individuality and known functional utilities of allelic variants should converge to create a situation in which nutritional optima can be specified as part of comprehensive lifestyle prescriptions tailored to the needs of each person.
AB - Recent genetic research builds on a base established over the last century by physicians and nutritional scientists, who introduced the concept of biochemical individuality and documented its significance for understanding a wide variety of problems in human health. Current comparative genomic investigations on a variety of organisms (Haemophilus influenzae, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Homo sapiens) have established the existence of numerous orthologs (proteins in different organisms that show significant sequence similarities over 80% of their lengths), suggesting significant conservation of structure and probably some of function as well. At the same time, molecular comparisons among individuals within our own species show the existence of abundant molecular variants, many of which have been shown to have functional significance in nutritional and related metabolic contexts. The combination of biochemical individuality and known functional utilities of allelic variants should converge to create a situation in which nutritional optima can be specified as part of comprehensive lifestyle prescriptions tailored to the needs of each person.
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U2 - 10.1093/jn/131.2.336s
DO - 10.1093/jn/131.2.336s
M3 - Article
C2 - 11160557
AN - SCOPUS:0035147014
VL - 131
SP - 336S-339S
JO - Journal of Nutrition
JF - Journal of Nutrition
SN - 0022-3166
IS - 2
ER -