Enter your address to receive notifications about new posts to your email.
Science & Publishing
-
Science & Publishing
Nested CRISPR for cloning-free fluorescent tags
A better way to make endogenous reporters in C. elegans CRISPR systems for gene editing have revolutionized biological research, but the method still has limitations. While it is usually straightforward to delete parts of the genome using CRISPR, large insertions can be a challenge. This has been the case even for the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans,…
-
Science & Publishing
GSA Journals Spotlight 2018
The GSA Journals, GENETICS and G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, are proud to present our annual Spotlight booklets for research published in 2018. Each Spotlight is a showcase of the excellent research and scholarship published over the course of the year, along with a selection of striking images submitted by our authors. Browse the 2018 GENETICS Spotlight. Browse the 2018 G3 Spotlight.
-
Science & Publishing
Guest post: Chromosome-scale genome assembly gives African mosquito and malaria vector fewer places to hide its secrets
Guest post by Kathryn “Kaylee” Mueller, Phase Genomics. Plasmodium parasites—the microbes that cause malaria—are right at home in the tropics. After all, tropical regions harbor the two animals that the malaria parasites need to complete their complex lifecycle: female Anopheles mosquitoes and human beings. And in 2017 alone, Plasmodiumracked up 219 million cases of malaria,…
-
Science & Publishing
“Predicting” the future: how genomic prediction methods anticipated technology
A landmark paper published in GENETICS founded the field of genomic prediction before the requisite technology was available. When a new technology is developed, it can allow scientists to make great strides in addressing longstanding questions. Occasionally, however, researchers think so critically about a knowledge gap in their field that they’re able to propose a…
-
Science & Publishing
Three GENETICS articles from 2018 recognized with Editors’ Choice Awards
Congratulations to the winners of the Editors’ Choice Awards for outstanding articles published in GENETICS in 2018! The journal’s Editorial Board considered a diverse range of articles, finding many papers worthy of recognition. After much deliberation, they settled on one exceptional article for each of the three award categories: molecular genetics, population genetics, and quantitative genetics. Check out…
-
Science & Publishing
An ancient regulator of sex development
A Wnt protein involved in the formation of the human ovary plays an important role in female zebrafish sex development. Even though zebrafish are a well-studied research model, how these fish develop into males or females remains rather obscure—in part because the sex of lab strains is not determined by sex chromosomes. Research published…
-
Science & Publishing
Women’s hidden contributions to theoretical population genetics
An analysis of the acknowledgment sections of theoretical population genetics papers from the 1970s and 1980s reveals overlooked contributions of women to the foundation of the field. Theoretical population genetics has a gender imbalance, and it’s easy to get the impression that it’s always been this way. After all, introductory genetics courses emphasize important concepts…
-
Science & Publishing
Does Candida grow on trees?
An opportunistic human pathogen makes itself at home on old oaks. At one point or another, most people have played host to the common yeast Candida albicans. Around 40-60% of healthy adults carry around it in their mouth or guts; in immunocompromised people, however, this normally harmless cohabitant becomes a deadly pathogen. Generally thought to…
-
Science & Publishing
Tools and technology FOMO? Don’t miss this session at #Dros19!
The Annual Drosophila Research Conference is the premier place to share your research with the fruit fly community and discover cutting-edge advances. Presentations cover the full diversity of Drosophila investigations, from genetics to molecular biology, cell biology, development, immunology, physiology, neuroscience, evolution, and more. Now in its 60th year, the Drosophila conference is meeting in…
-
Science & Publishing
Loaded words
Guest author Amir Teicher discusses how the concept of “genetic load” traces its roots back to eugenic thinking, as described in his recent Perspectives article in GENETICS. The possibilities opened up by advances in genome sequencing have recently spurred discussions on the burden, or cost, that mutations pose to organisms and populations. Does the relaxation…
-
Science & Publishing
From sequence to centimeters: predicting height from genomes
Machine learning and access to ever-expanding databases improves genomic prediction of human traits. In theory, a scientist could predict your height using just your genome sequence. In practice, though, this is still the stuff of science fiction. It’s not only your genes that affect height—environment also plays a role—but the larger problem is that height…