Exploring the role of phage plasmids in gene transfers
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 29:S0168-9525(24)00098-2. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.011. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTBacteriophages and plasmids drive horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in bacteria. Phage-plasmids (P-Ps) are hybrids of plasmid and phages. Pfeifer and Rocha recently demonstrated that P-Ps can serve as intermediates in gene exchanges between these two types of elements, identified categories of preferentially transferred genes, and reconstructed gene flows involving phage P1-like P-Ps.PMID:38688811 | DOI:10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.011 (Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG)
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 30, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Agnieszka K Szczepankowska Ma łgorzata Łobocka Source Type: research
Why do sex chromosomes progressively lose recombination?
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 27:S0168-9525(24)00067-2. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.03.005. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTProgressive recombination loss is a common feature of sex chromosomes. Yet, the evolutionary drivers of this phenomenon remain a mystery. For decades, differences in trait optima between sexes (sexual antagonism) have been the favoured hypothesis, but convincing evidence is lacking. Recent years have seen a surge of alternative hypotheses to explain progressive extensions and maintenance of recombination suppression: neutral accumulation of sequence divergence, selection of nonrecombining fragments with fewer dele...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 27, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Paul Jay Daniel Jeffries Fanny E Hartmann Amandine V éber Tatiana Giraud Source Type: research
Why do sex chromosomes progressively lose recombination?
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 27:S0168-9525(24)00067-2. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.03.005. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTProgressive recombination loss is a common feature of sex chromosomes. Yet, the evolutionary drivers of this phenomenon remain a mystery. For decades, differences in trait optima between sexes (sexual antagonism) have been the favoured hypothesis, but convincing evidence is lacking. Recent years have seen a surge of alternative hypotheses to explain progressive extensions and maintenance of recombination suppression: neutral accumulation of sequence divergence, selection of nonrecombining fragments with fewer dele...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 27, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Paul Jay Daniel Jeffries Fanny E Hartmann Amandine V éber Tatiana Giraud Source Type: research
Why do sex chromosomes progressively lose recombination?
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 27:S0168-9525(24)00067-2. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.03.005. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTProgressive recombination loss is a common feature of sex chromosomes. Yet, the evolutionary drivers of this phenomenon remain a mystery. For decades, differences in trait optima between sexes (sexual antagonism) have been the favoured hypothesis, but convincing evidence is lacking. Recent years have seen a surge of alternative hypotheses to explain progressive extensions and maintenance of recombination suppression: neutral accumulation of sequence divergence, selection of nonrecombining fragments with fewer dele...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 27, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Paul Jay Daniel Jeffries Fanny E Hartmann Amandine V éber Tatiana Giraud Source Type: research
Assessing autosomal aneuploidy in ancient genomes
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 24:S0168-9525(24)00080-5. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.006. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTUsing genetic methods, aneuploidies can be detected in ancient human remains, which is so far the only way to reliably prove their existence in the past. As highlighted in recent studies by Rohrlach et al. and by Anastasiadou et al., this initial step enables a deeper exploration of the history of rare diseases, encompassing the social and historical contexts of the afflicted individuals.PMID:38664113 | DOI:10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.006 (Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG)
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 25, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Julia Gresky Source Type: research
Ancestral desiccation tolerance tools repurposed throughout plant evolution
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 24:S0168-9525(24)00094-5. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.007. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe ability to tolerate and recover from desiccation is an adaptation that permitted primitive plants to colonize land, and it persists in select species today. Zhang et al. dissected desiccation tolerance in moss species, and traced a key regulator through evolution to identify a conserved mechanism of water sensing in angiosperms.PMID:38664114 | DOI:10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.007 (Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG)
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 25, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Alyssa Kearly Source Type: research
Assessing autosomal aneuploidy in ancient genomes
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 24:S0168-9525(24)00080-5. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.006. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTUsing genetic methods, aneuploidies can be detected in ancient human remains, which is so far the only way to reliably prove their existence in the past. As highlighted in recent studies by Rohrlach et al. and by Anastasiadou et al., this initial step enables a deeper exploration of the history of rare diseases, encompassing the social and historical contexts of the afflicted individuals.PMID:38664113 | DOI:10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.006 (Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG)
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 25, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Julia Gresky Source Type: research
Ancestral desiccation tolerance tools repurposed throughout plant evolution
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 24:S0168-9525(24)00094-5. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.007. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe ability to tolerate and recover from desiccation is an adaptation that permitted primitive plants to colonize land, and it persists in select species today. Zhang et al. dissected desiccation tolerance in moss species, and traced a key regulator through evolution to identify a conserved mechanism of water sensing in angiosperms.PMID:38664114 | DOI:10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.007 (Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG)
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 25, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Alyssa Kearly Source Type: research
Gene-environmental regulation of the postnatal post-mitotic neuronal maturation
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 23:S0168-9525(24)00068-4. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.03.006. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTEmbryonic neurodevelopment, particularly neural progenitor differentiation into post-mitotic neurons, has been extensively studied. While the number and composition of post-mitotic neurons remain relatively constant from birth to adulthood, the brain undergoes significant postnatal maturation marked by major property changes frequently disrupted in neural diseases. This review first summarizes recent characterizations of the functional and molecular maturation of the postnatal nervous system. We then review regula...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 24, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Gabrielle S Prince Molly Reynolds Verdion Martina HaoSheng Sun Source Type: research
Discovering mechanisms of human genetic variation and controlling cell states at scale
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 23:S0168-9525(24)00074-X. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.03.010. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPopulation-scale sequencing efforts have catalogued substantial genetic variation in humans such that variant discovery dramatically outpaces interpretation. We discuss how single-cell sequencing is poised to reveal genetic mechanisms at a rate that may soon approach that of variant discovery. The functional genomics toolkit is sufficiently modular to systematically profile almost any type of variation within increasingly diverse contexts and with molecularly comprehensive and unbiased readouts. As a result, we ca...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 24, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Max Frenkel Srivatsan Raman Source Type: research
Gene-environmental regulation of the postnatal post-mitotic neuronal maturation
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 23:S0168-9525(24)00068-4. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.03.006. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTEmbryonic neurodevelopment, particularly neural progenitor differentiation into post-mitotic neurons, has been extensively studied. While the number and composition of post-mitotic neurons remain relatively constant from birth to adulthood, the brain undergoes significant postnatal maturation marked by major property changes frequently disrupted in neural diseases. This review first summarizes recent characterizations of the functional and molecular maturation of the postnatal nervous system. We then review regula...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 24, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Gabrielle S Prince Molly Reynolds Verdion Martina HaoSheng Sun Source Type: research
Discovering mechanisms of human genetic variation and controlling cell states at scale
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 23:S0168-9525(24)00074-X. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.03.010. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTPopulation-scale sequencing efforts have catalogued substantial genetic variation in humans such that variant discovery dramatically outpaces interpretation. We discuss how single-cell sequencing is poised to reveal genetic mechanisms at a rate that may soon approach that of variant discovery. The functional genomics toolkit is sufficiently modular to systematically profile almost any type of variation within increasingly diverse contexts and with molecularly comprehensive and unbiased readouts. As a result, we ca...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 24, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Max Frenkel Srivatsan Raman Source Type: research
Genetic mechanisms of animal camouflage: an interdisciplinary perspective
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 20:S0168-9525(24)00073-8. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.03.009. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTCamouflage is a classic example of a trait wherein animals respond to natural selection to avoid predation or attract prey. This unique phenomenon has attracted significant recent attention and the rapid development of integrative research methods is facilitating advances in our understanding of the in-depth genetic mechanisms of camouflage. In this review article, we revisit camouflage definitions and strategies and then we examine the underlying mechanisms of the two most common forms of camouflage, crypsis and ...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 21, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Guangping Huang Yubo Zhang Wei Zhang Fuwen Wei Source Type: research
Genetic mechanisms of animal camouflage: an interdisciplinary perspective
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 20:S0168-9525(24)00073-8. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.03.009. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTCamouflage is a classic example of a trait wherein animals respond to natural selection to avoid predation or attract prey. This unique phenomenon has attracted significant recent attention and the rapid development of integrative research methods is facilitating advances in our understanding of the in-depth genetic mechanisms of camouflage. In this review article, we revisit camouflage definitions and strategies and then we examine the underlying mechanisms of the two most common forms of camouflage, crypsis and ...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 21, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Guangping Huang Yubo Zhang Wei Zhang Fuwen Wei Source Type: research
Non-canonical functions of enhancers: regulation of RNA polymerase III transcription, DNA replication, and V(D)J recombination
Trends Genet. 2024 Apr 19:S0168-9525(24)00075-1. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2024.04.001. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTEnhancers are the key regulators of other DNA-based processes by virtue of their unique ability to generate nucleosome-depleted regions in a highly regulated manner. Enhancers regulate cell-type-specific transcription of tRNA genes by RNA polymerase III (Pol III). They are also responsible for the binding of the origin replication complex (ORC) to DNA replication origins, thereby regulating origin utilization, replication timing, and replication-dependent chromosome breaks. Additionally, enhancers regulate V(D)J r...
Source: Trends in Genetics : TIG - April 20, 2024 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Kevin Struhl Source Type: research
