Report of the GEMS conference (Genetics and Environmental Mutagenesis Society)

University of Lausanne geneticist Alexandre Reymond, Ph.D.)a report of the , next explored the topic of “The Influence of Genome Structure on Gene Expression.” Reymond began by observing that scientists have been aware of CNVs and “genomic disorder” since at least 1975, but until the development of advanced bioinformatics and hybridization-based methods for mapping CNVs, they weren’t able to establish how widespread structural variation is in the mammalian genome.

Reymond’s studies of CNV influence on gene expression have helped to identify variation by tissue and levels of expression, as well as establish that the effects on gene expression change during development. He has explored the effects of the interphase nuclear position of chromosomes and genes on changes in CNV and established that there is more variation in some organs than in others. He speculates that high levels of CNV, while important in disease, may also benefit an organism by contributing to survival and adaptation.