Scientists Uncover Genetic Secret Afflicting Lincoln Kin
Maura Lerner
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
Scripps Howard News Service, DC
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For years, Terry Smith knew that he was distantly related to Abraham Lincoln.But he didn't know about the illness that ran in his family - what relatives called "Lincoln's Disease."Now, researchers at the University of Minnesota have uncovered a genetic secret that has plagued the Lincoln family for at least 11 generations: a mutation that causes a form of ataxia, a crippling neurological disease.
The discovery could shed new light on the causes of a number of similar diseases, said Laura Ranum, a university geneticist who led the research project.But on a historic level, she said, it also raises intriguing new questions about the 16th president, whose health has long been a topic of speculation.
But through genetic detective work, she and her colleagues studied 300 distant cousins of the president (he has no living descendents himself; the last, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died in 1985). They found that about a third have ataxia, including Smith, of Manteca, Calif. "My grandma is a Lincoln," said Smith, 57, who learned about the family ailment when he was in his 30s.
Jan 28, 2006
Maura Lerner
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
Scripps Howard News Service, DC
________________________
For years, Terry Smith knew that he was distantly related to Abraham Lincoln.But he didn't know about the illness that ran in his family - what relatives called "Lincoln's Disease."Now, researchers at the University of Minnesota have uncovered a genetic secret that has plagued the Lincoln family for at least 11 generations: a mutation that causes a form of ataxia, a crippling neurological disease.
The discovery could shed new light on the causes of a number of similar diseases, said Laura Ranum, a university geneticist who led the research project.But on a historic level, she said, it also raises intriguing new questions about the 16th president, whose health has long been a topic of speculation.
But through genetic detective work, she and her colleagues studied 300 distant cousins of the president (he has no living descendents himself; the last, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died in 1985). They found that about a third have ataxia, including Smith, of Manteca, Calif. "My grandma is a Lincoln," said Smith, 57, who learned about the family ailment when he was in his 30s.
Jan 28, 2006
