'No fingerprint' clues unveiled
Genetic clue behind lack of fingerprints discovered
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Wednesday, 13, Sep 2006 12:45
Scientists have uncovered the genetic secrets behind people being born without fingerprints.
Researchers from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology found that a defect in the protein keratin 14 causes two rare congenital diseases, naegeli syndrome (NS) and dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis (DPR), which cause people to have no fingerprints.
For years scientists have known that defects in keratin 14 are associated with a number of skin diseases, but the latest study is the first to link it with NS and DPR.
The protein defect has now been found to cause the process in which the body marks cells in the upper layers of the skin for death. As well as lacking fingerprints, people suffering from NS or DPR also do not have the ability to perspire normally, have thicker palms and soles and may develop anomalies of the teeth, hair and skin.
Israeli researchers are now attempting to determine the exact connection between the diseases and enhanced programmed cell death.
Professor Eli Sprecher, lead author of the study, argued in the October issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics that pinpointing this connection could have significant implications for many skin disorders.