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Every single microprocessor in every computer is unique in its own way (small errors in production). It doesn't mean we can't compute with them, nor that the va
by skosuri 9y ago
Every single microprocessor in every computer is unique in its own way (small errors in production). It doesn't mean we can't compute with them, nor that the variation is useful or relevant.
- sndean 9y ago> It doesn't mean we can't compute with them, nor that the variation is useful or relevant. This is pretty much my understanding of it as well. We can expect that, even though we're now at the point of being able to appreciate the minute differences in sequence from cell to cell, almost all changes will have no significant effect on phenotype. However, in aggregate, on the scale of tissues, the could be some interesting effects? But I doubt it.
- dvt 9y agoThis is an incredibly reductive analogy. The whole point of the article is that the neuronal variation does seem to be relevant.
- skosuri 9y agoIt seems to exist. Not clear there is a lot of evidence it's relevant. If you sequence a tissue that has cancer or some other disease that causes increased cell division, you will see more somatic variation. Not sure why this is particularly surprising or interesting. It's been known for a while now. If somatic variation was important for brain development or function (like it is in the adaptive immune system), that indeed would be super surprising, but that's not what I'm seeing here.
- mirimir 9y agoA key aspect of CNS development is massive overproduction of neurons, and then selection for useful ones. The idea that somatic variation plays a role there is not novel. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=development+somatic+variation+neuron https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=development+somatic+var...