If you search for meta-genetics (with the hyphen) you will find a pseudo-science which really has no mainstream scientific support. How genes connect with how an organism looks, behaves etc (phenotype) is quite complicated. Gene expression is controlled by many factors and new ones are being discovered. The term I think you are looking for is epigenetic or gene imprinting. I won't get into a long explanation because you can find good information by searching. If you look up gene expression, you will also find many method of gene expression control such as siRNA or the recent discovery of miRNA, a very hot area right now.
This is certainly another tool for those hunting genes associated with disease. These are complex diseases however with multiple genetic alterations so the identification of a single gene may not provide the whole story. Also a gene identified this way may not apply to the larger afflicted populaton since this is a correlation seen in a small study group. It should be relatively easy to check though.
Corn ethanol is a stop gap. It has contributed to driving the price of milk up by increasing the price of cow feed. This technology disengages biofuel from corn but leaves you wondering where the biomass is coming from. Alcohol, though it reduced particulate emissions because it is oxygenated, still releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Arguements have been made that the biomass used for alcohol production would have decomposed and release CO2 anyway and so it is carbon neutral technology. Unfortunately that is only true if the biomass was waste headed for landfill. For biomass alcohol to make a true impact on use of fossil fuels, the biomass would have to be specifically produced for fuel production and so it could not be carbon neutral. Other technologies are more likely to be successful at reducing dependence on fossil fuels, reducing particulate emissions and CO2 emissions.
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If you search for meta-genetics (with the hyphen) you will find a pseudo-science which really has no mainstream scientific support. How genes connect with how an organism looks, behaves etc (phenotype) is quite complicated. Gene expression is controlled by many factors and new ones are being discovered. The term I think you are looking for is epigenetic or gene imprinting. I won't get into a long explanation because you can find good information by searching. If you look up gene expression, you will also find many method of gene expression control such as siRNA or the recent discovery of miRNA, a very hot area right now.
This is certainly another tool for those hunting genes associated with disease. These are complex diseases however with multiple genetic alterations so the identification of a single gene may not provide the whole story. Also a gene identified this way may not apply to the larger afflicted populaton since this is a correlation seen in a small study group. It should be relatively easy to check though.
Corn ethanol is a stop gap. It has contributed to driving the price of milk up by increasing the price of cow feed. This technology disengages biofuel from corn but leaves you wondering where the biomass is coming from. Alcohol, though it reduced particulate emissions because it is oxygenated, still releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Arguements have been made that the biomass used for alcohol production would have decomposed and release CO2 anyway and so it is carbon neutral technology. Unfortunately that is only true if the biomass was waste headed for landfill. For biomass alcohol to make a true impact on use of fossil fuels, the biomass would have to be specifically produced for fuel production and so it could not be carbon neutral. Other technologies are more likely to be successful at reducing dependence on fossil fuels, reducing particulate emissions and CO2 emissions.