Highlight Articles
- Deleterious Mutation Burden and Its Association with Complex Traits in Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a major staple food cereal for millions of people worldwide. Valluru et al. identify putative deleterious mutations among ∼5.5M segregating variants of 229 diverse sorghum...
- The Genetics of Mating Song Evolution Underlying Rapid Speciation: Linking Quantitative Variation to Candidate Genes for Behavioral Isolation
A common component of divergence in mating behavior is the distinctive mating songs of insects, and identifying genes underlying natural variation in acoustic behavior is important for understanding targets of selection during speciation. Here...
- Modelling Sex-Specific Crossover Patterning in Arabidopsis
Males and females of many organisms show distinct patterns of inheritance. Here, Lloyd and Jenczewski model crossover patterning in Arabidopsis to gain insights into what causes the large differences in recombination rates and patterns...
- Cell Cycle-Regulated Transcription of CENP-A by the MBF Complex Ensures Optimal Level of CENP-A for Centromere Formation
In most eukaryotes, the histone H3 variant CENP-A serves as the epigenetic mark for centromeres. CENP-A transcription is subject to cell-cycle regulation, but the molecular mechanism underlying the regulation remains elusive. Through a genetic screen...
- The Role of miRNAs in Drosophila melanogaster Male Courtship Behavior
The role of non-coding RNAs in the development and maintenance of sex-specific characteristics in Drosophila is not well understood. Iftikhar et al. present results of a genetic screen demonstrating...
- Establishment and Maintenance of Chromatin Architecture Are Promoted Independently of Transcription by the Histone Chaperone FACT and H3-K56 Acetylation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Using a combination of in vitro biochemistry, genetics, and genomics, McCullough and Pham et al. explore how the histone:DNA contact at the entry/exit site of nucleosomes affects the functions of the histone chaperone FACT in the yeast...
- Tissue-Specific Trans Regulation of the Mouse Epigenome
While much is known about the enzymes that deposit and remove epigenetic modifications, less is known about the trans-acting system that determines when and where these modifications occur. By looking at four diverse...
- Pervasive Linked Selection and Intermediate-Frequency Alleles Are Implicated in an Evolve-and-Resequencing Experiment of Drosophila simulans
Evolve-and-Resequence (E&R) experiments, where researchers allow populations to evolve within one or more controlled environments and then whole-genome sequence the resultant populations, are increasingly important in evolutionary genetics methodology. Here, Kelly...
- R/qtl2: Software for Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci with High-Dimensional Data and Multiparent Populations
R/qtl2 is an interactive software environment for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) in experimental populations. The R/qtl2 software expands the scope of the widely-used R/qtl software package to include multiparental populations, better handles modern high-dimensional data....
- Evidence for Weak Selective Constraint on Human Gene Expression
Variation in human complex traits is connected to variation in gene expression, and selection on complex traits can be reflected in selection on gene expression. Here, Glassberg and Gao et al. analyze polymorphic....