Journal Club

Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members

Category Archives: Genetics

Journal Club: New roles found for protein key to neurotransmission

Posted on August 11, 2017 by Carolyn Beans

Scientists know many of the proteins that make neurotransmission possible, but they don’t have a handle on how all the pieces work together. “As someone who has studied the synapse for a long time, I still find it frustrating … Continue reading →

Journal Club: CRISPR elucidates genetic basis of social behavior in ants

Posted on August 10, 2017 by Viviane Callier

Drosophila has been a workhorse of genetics for roughly a century. But as a solitary insect, it hasn’t allowed researchers to investigate the genetic basis of complex social behavior in ants and bees. Now, a pair of studies published today in … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Phage find clever ways to infiltrate resistant bacteria and shuttle DNA between strains

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Charlotte Schubert

In the gut, in the soil, and myriad other spots, bacteria reign, forming complex communities—but not in isolation. They’re often influenced by bacteria-killing viruses known as bacteriophages. A recent study in Cell now shows how such viruses can infect bystander, … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Fruit fly hybrids make poor foragers, offering insight into how species remain distinct

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Carolyn Beans

When one fruit fly species meets another, they sometimes interbreed. And yet despite this genetic mixing, distinct species still persist—over 2,000 of them. Evolutionary biologist Daniel Matute of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of … Continue reading →

Journal Club: “Zombie” HIV RNA could cause ongoing damage

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Amber Dance

Streaming through the blood of people with HIV are cells carrying mutant, incomplete viral genomes—viral DNA sets that researchers have long deemed duds, irrelevant to disease. But a study in PNAS this week refocuses attention on these defective viral tagalongs. … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Human genetics contributes to gut microbiome composition

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Jyoti Madhusoodanan

Microbial communities in the human gut are formed at birth and shaped over time by a person’s diet, and other aspects of lifestyle and environment. Now scientists have confirmed that human genetic sequence polymorphisms also play a key role in … Continue reading →

Journal Club: Mutations in non-coding gene signal risk of celiac disease

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Amber Dance

Researchers struggling to find genes linked to celiac disease may have been looking in the wrong place. Recent findings have uncovered a gene that appears to amplify risk for the common autoimmune disorder by spelling out not a protein, but … Continue reading →

Categories: Applied Biological Sciences | Genetics | Journal Club | Tagged celiac disease, lncRNA | Leave a comment

Journal Club: How to find the rare, disease-resistant individuals who could help forge new therapies

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Sandeep Ravindran

A new study finds individuals who appear healthy despite having mutations associated with severe childhood diseases, a finding that could help uncover factors that protect against these diseases. “Finding those individuals is the starting point for searching for the other … Continue reading →

Categories: Genetics | Journal Club | Tagged big data, disease, genetics, resilience | Leave a comment

Journal Club: Tasmanian devils hit with another contagious cancer

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Helen Shen

Cancers aren’t usually contagious, but a tiny number of them can spread when diseased cells move from one animal to another. One such cancer, an aggressive facial tumor, has wiped out large numbers of Tasmanian devils in Australia over the … Continue reading →

Categories: Cell Biology | Ecology | Genetics | Tagged cancer, contagion, Tasmanian Devil | Leave a comment