Announcing new sections at GENETICS

GENETICS is pleased to announce the addition of new sections as part of a topical reorganization to best convey its scientific interests. New editors are added to the Editorial Board regularly, in new sections and old, to ensure that the journal’s expertise is wide ranging.

To better represent the fields of developmental biology and neurobiology, Developmental and Behavioral Genetics will now be called Molecular Genetics of Development with David Greenstein remaining as its Senior Editor, and a new section called Neurogenetics and Behavior has been established, with Oliver Hobert as the inaugural Senior Editor. This new section, along with the series on Neurogenetics, makes GENETICS’ invitation to neuroscience researchers a priority.

Additionally, Methods, Technology, and Resources will be replaced by two new sections called Experimental Technologies and Resources with Kate O’Connor-Giles as the inaugural Senior Editor, and Computational Resources, Software, and Databases with Paul Sternberg as its inaugural Senior Editor. These new sections give researchers who develop bench techniques an enhanced home for their manuscripts and highlight a new area of focus on computational tools and databases.

The choice of where to submit a manuscript is an important one for authors to make; we hope that the following summary of GENETICS’ overall mandate, followed by details of each section, will help potential authors understand how their work might find a home at GENETICS—a peer-edited, peer-reviewed, society-published, not-for-profit journal for researchers whose science includes genetics and genomics.

GENETICS publishes papers that advance experimental and theoretical understanding of genetic and genomic mechanisms and functions at multiple levels—from molecular, cellular and developmental studies to behavioral, population, and evolutionary approaches. The journal also welcomes papers that contribute useful experimental and computational technologies, resources, and databases for geneticists and genomicists. Papers are expected to provide novel mechanistic insights and/or useful tools of broad interest or utility. The journal welcomes studies on traditional unicellular and multicellular genetic model organisms/populations, emerging or unconventional model systems, and humans. The journal sections (and their Senior Editors) are:

Cellular Genetics (Meera Sundaram) This section publishes studies of cell-level processes such as membrane fusion, vesicle trafficking, organelle biogenesis, cytoskeletal rearrangements, proteostasis, cell fate determination, cell growth, cell shaping, cell division, or cell death. These studies may be performed in bacterial cells, fungi or other single-celled eukaryotes, plant cells, or cells from animals such as nematodes, insects, fish, or mice. We welcome studies involving disease modeling in these organisms.

Computational Resources, Software, and Databases (Paul Sternberg) This section publishes papers describing databases, knowledgebases, software, and computational resources used to query, analyze, and integrate genetic, genomic or population data. Topics of interest include descriptions of databases that harbor key data in standardized form; knowledgebases that compile curated data and results; methods for obtaining, transforming, and integrating data; methods of querying data; new software that helps visualize data; and computational workflows and pipelines.

Empirical Population and Evolutionary Genetics (David Begun) This section publishes papers that investigate the processes responsible for within- and between-species variation. These studies address questions of population genetic mechanism or raise new, general questions about the basic properties of variation.

Experimental Technologies and Resources (Kate O’Connor-Giles) This section publishes papers that describe new technologies and resources that advance in vivo studies. Topics of interest include genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic approaches; gene editing and other emerging technologies for manipulating gene expression at the level of DNA, RNA or protein; new methods for assessing or monitoring gene function; in vivo imaging approaches and collections; and genetic resource collections.

Gene Expression (Karen Arndt) This section publishes papers related to all aspects of gene expression. Topics of interest include transcription, noncoding RNA synthesis and function, chromatin structure and epigenetic regulation, and post-transcriptional processes, such as RNA processing, RNA stability, and translation. The work may be performed in bacterial cells, yeast or other fungi, plants, or animal systems, including insects, nematodes, fish, mice or humans.

Genetics of Complex Traits (Mario Calus, Anthony Long) This section publishes studies that generate novel insights, resources, or methodologies related to traits whose inheritance is governed by multiple genes and the environment. We consider a broad range of phenotypes (from gene expression and/or epigenetic marks through human disease phenotypes) and organisms (microorganisms, multicellular model and emerging model systems, species of agricultural importance, vertebrate models, and humans). We welcome studies that include rigor enhancing validation experiments.

Genome Integrity and Transmission (Jeff Sekelsky) This section publishes studies that address DNA damage, repair, mutagenesis, replication, and recombination. We also encourage submissions that address the behavior of chromosomes during mitosis and meiosis. Papers may range from the DNA level to whole chromosomes to genomes.

Genome and Systems Biology (Audrey Gasch) This section publishes studies that focus on genome-wide or systems biology approaches to studying principles of genetics and cellular function. We publish papers covering topics such as novel genomes and genome analyses, new methods in computational or high-throughput biology, mathematical analysis of cellular or evolutionary processes, and functional -omics of cells and populations.

Molecular Genetics of Development (David Greenstein) This section publishes leading-edge studies that elucidate developmental mechanisms in plants, animals, and unicellular systems. We welcome a diversity of topics spanning embryonic development, intercellular signaling, sex determination, patterning, stem cells, developmental control of gene expression, organogenesis, and others.

Neurogenetics and Behavior (Oliver Hobert) This section publishes papers that explore nervous system development, function, plasticity and animal behavior. Such studies include mechanistic genetic loss and gain of function approaches as well as the description of molecular maps of the nervous system.

Statistical Genetics and Genomics (Karl Broman) This section publishes papers on advances in statistical, mathematical, and computational methods to solve problems in genetics and genomics. Such work can range from theoretical to practical and can include innovations in study design and data analysis.

Theoretical Population and Evolutionary Genetics (Nick Barton) This section publishes papers that use theory to understand the evolutionary process and that develop new methods for inference from genetic data. We cover studies of both long-term molecular evolution and of genetic variation within populations. Fundamental theory is welcome but should connect with observations.