The Harvard doctors discovered a variation in a gene called Kif1C determined how well mice could resist anthrax.

BBC: Anthrax antidote hope

The team found a variation in a gene called interleukin 8 (IL8 gene) occurred in babies with bronchiolitis more often than would normally be expected.

BBC: Gene key to baby chest infection

Retrotransposons could provide that variation, by affecting gene expression at random, depending on where they pitch up.

ECONOMIST: Brain development may be influenced by genetic parasites

The McGill researchers found the families shared a variation of the Parkin gene and a neighbouring gene called PACRG which are both found on chromosome 6.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Gene fault increases leprosy risk

But, by coincidence, he then discovered a group of scientists working on a mouse called Peromyscus that possesses the same less active variation of the MC1R gene as mammoths did.

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One example of this is variation in LCT, a gene involved in the metabolism of lactose, a sugar found in milk.

ECONOMIST: Human evolution

He cites a 1978 paper that showed a link between the gene behind sickle cell disease and a variation in a section of junk DNA. Jacobson dismisses as poppycock the notion that noncoding DNA was understood back then.

FORBES: Magazine Article