Like the subtext of a novel, the human genome sequence harbors more information than appears just in its "letters" of A, C, T and G. Since DNA is a data-packed molecule passed from generation to generation, comparing genome sequences among individuals also holds clues to ancestry.
So-called association studies that match unusual DNA sequence variations to diseases are very common nowadays. But a multi-institution group led by Dr. Francis Barany, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, has instead zeroed in on parts of the genome that are strikingly similar among people from a particular population group who have the same type of cancer. ...