Nevertheless, researchers have discovered that a process long known to discolor and toughen foods may also contribute to age related impairment of both cells and tissues.
In the nearer term, this development could greatly assist the study of diseases, like schizophrenia and Huntington's, that result from vesicle-cell interaction failure.
Joseph Coyle, with Harvard Medical School, who has studied schizophrenia and other neurological disorders for more than 40 years, was drawn into his career path early on.
The results could have implications for understanding the functional significance of a prominent brain abnormality observed in neuropsychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia.
While complete eradication is highly unlikely, Brown says, the finding has implications for prevention and treatment (see Can Infection-Related Schizophrenia Be Prevented?).
The study conducted by the International Schizophrenia Consortium also compared the SNP patterns in schizophrenia patients and the genomes of people with other diseases.