A Molecular Investigation of Human Self-Domestication
Publication date: Available online 30 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Adam S. WilkinsThe question of whether human beings are like domesticated animals in their behavior has been simultaneously intriguing, hard to define precisely, and seemingly resistant to any kind of scientific test. A recent paper by Zanella et al. reports a molecular-genetic approach to it and provides a provisional ‘yes’. (Source: Trends in Genetics)
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 31, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Advances in Chromatin Imaging at Kilobase-Scale Resolution
Publication date: Available online 29 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Alistair Boettiger, Sedona MurphyIt is now widely appreciated that the spatial organization of the genome is nonrandom, and its complex 3D folding has important consequences for many genome processes. Recent developments in multiplexed, super-resolution microscopy have enabled an unprecedented view of the polymeric structure of chromatin – from the loose folds of whole chromosomes to the detailed loops of cis-regulatory elements that regulate gene expression. Facilitated by the use of robotics, microfluidics, and improved approaches to...
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 30, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Hansel, Gretel, and the Consequences of Failing to Remove Histone Methylation Breadcrumbs
Publication date: Available online 29 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Teresa W. Lee, David J. KatzLike breadcrumbs in the forest, cotranscriptionally acquired histone methylation acts as a memory of prior transcription. Because it can be retained through cell divisions, transcriptional memory allows cells to coordinate complex transcriptional programs during development. However, if not reprogrammed properly during cell fate transitions, it can also disrupt cellular identity. In this review, we discuss the consequences of failure to reprogram histone methylation during three crucial epigenetic reprogrammin...
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 30, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Transcriptional Regulation at DSBs: Mechanisms and Consequences
Publication date: Available online 28 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Feras E. Machour, Nabieh AyoubDefective double-strand break (DSB) repair leads to genomic instabilities that may augment carcinogenesis. DSBs trigger transient transcriptional silencing in the vicinity of transcriptionally active genes through multilayered processes instigated by Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), and poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1). Novel factors have been identified that ensure DSB-induced silencing via two distinct pathways: direct inhibition of RNA Polymerase II (Pol II...
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 28, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Therapeutic Germline Editing: Sense and Sensibility
Publication date: Available online 22 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Eli Y. Adashi, I. Glenn CohenSafe and effective heritable editing of the human genome is years away from the clinic because of formidable technical, statutory, regulatory, and societal challenges. In particular, we note the fledgling state of the science, the imperatives of editing efficiency, specificity, and uniformity, and the extant legal roadblock. (Source: Trends in Genetics)
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 24, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Clonal Reproduction through Seeds in Sight for Crops
Publication date: Available online 20 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Peggy Ozias-Akins, Joann A. ConnerApomixis or asexual reproduction through seeds, enables the preservation of hybrid vigor. Hybrids are heterozygous and segregate for genotype and phenotype upon sexual reproduction. While apomixis, that is, clonal reproduction, is intuitively antithetical to diversity, it is rarely obligate and actually provides a mechanism to recover and maintain superior hybrid gene combinations for which sexual reproduction would reveal deleterious alleles in less fit genotypes. Apomixis, widespread across flowering p...
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 21, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Molecular Mechanisms Driving mRNA Degradation by m6A Modification
Publication date: Available online 18 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Yujin Lee, Junho Choe, Ok Hyun Park, Yoon Ki KimN6-Methyladenosine (m6A), the most prevalent internal modification associated with eukaryotic mRNAs, influences many steps of mRNA metabolism, including splicing, export, and translation, as well as stability. Recent studies have revealed that m6A-containing mRNAs undergo one of two distinct pathways of rapid degradation: deadenylation via the YT521-B homology (YTH) domain-containing family protein 2 (YTHDF2; an m6A reader protein)–CCR4/NOT (deadenylase) complex or endoribonucleolytic cle...
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 19, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Pisum sativum (Pea)
Publication date: Available online 17 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Judith Burstin, Jonathan Kreplak, Jiří Macas, Judith Lichtenzveig (Source: Trends in Genetics)
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 18, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
From Summary Statistics to Gene Trees: Methods for Inferring Positive Selection
Publication date: Available online 15 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Hussein A. Hejase, Noah Dukler, Adam SiepelMethods to detect signals of natural selection from genomic data have traditionally emphasized the use of simple summary statistics. Here, we review a new generation of methods that consider combinations of conventional summary statistics and/or richer features derived from inferred gene trees and ancestral recombination graphs (ARGs). We also review recent advances in methods for population genetic simulation and ARG reconstruction. Finally, we describe opportunities for future work on a variet...
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 17, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Flipping Shells! Unwinding LR Asymmetry in Mirror-Image Molluscs
Publication date: Available online 14 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Angus DavisonIn seeking to understand the establishment of left–right (LR) asymmetry, a limiting factor is that most animals are ordinarily invariant in their asymmetry, except when manipulated or mutated. It is therefore surprising that the wider scientific field does not appear to fully appreciate the remarkable fact that normal development in molluscs, especially snails, can flip between two chiral types without pathology. Here, I describe recent progress in understanding the evolution, development, and genetics of chiral variation ...
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 15, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Small RNAs in the Transgenerational Inheritance of Epigenetic Information
Publication date: Available online 14 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Lea Duempelmann, Merle Skribbe, Marc BühlerIn recent years it has become evident that RNA interference-related mechanisms can mediate the deposition and transgenerational inheritance of specific chromatin modifications in a truly epigenetic fashion. Rapid progress has been made in identifying the RNAi effector proteins and how they work together to confer long-lasting epigenetic responses, and initial studies hint at potential physiological relevance of such regulation. In this review, we highlight mechanistic studies in model organisms...
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 15, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Editorial Board and Contents
Publication date: February 2020Source: Trends in Genetics, Volume 36, Issue 2Author(s): (Source: Trends in Genetics)
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 15, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Subscription and Copyright Information
Publication date: February 2020Source: Trends in Genetics, Volume 36, Issue 2Author(s): (Source: Trends in Genetics)
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 15, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Omics in Neurodegenerative Disease: Hope or Hype?
Publication date: Available online 10 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Maria E. Diaz-Ortiz, Alice S. Chen-PlotkinThe past 15 years have seen a boom in the use and integration of ‘omic’ approaches (limited here to genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic techniques) to study neurodegenerative disease in an unprecedented way. We first highlight advances in and the limitations of using such approaches in the neurodegenerative disease literature, with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We next d...
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 11, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
Silencers, Enhancers, and the Multifunctional Regulatory Genome
Publication date: Available online 7 January 2020Source: Trends in GeneticsAuthor(s): Marc S. HalfonNegative regulation of gene expression by transcriptional silencers has been difficult to study due to limited defined examples. A new study by Gisselbrecht et al. has dramatically increased the number of identified silencers and reveals that they are bifunctional regulatory sequences that also act as gene expression-promoting enhancers. (Source: Trends in Genetics)
Source: Trends in Genetics - January 8, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
