Journal Club

Highlighting recent, timely papers selected by Academy member labs

Category Archives: Genetics

Prion-like protein acts as water sensor in seeds

Posted on July 26, 2021 by Jyoti Madhusoodanan

The sprouting of a seed is clearly a crucial stage in a plant’s life. Yet one part of the process has long been shrouded in mystery: How do seeds know when there’s enough water to germinate? Researchers recently reported the … Continue reading →

Atlas identifies genome regions that regulate plant cell identity

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Amy McDermott

Zoom in on the leaf of a corn plant, and you’ll find a patchwork of about 20 different cell types. A recent study, published in Cell, provides an atlas of critical genomic regions that control cell identity in six different … Continue reading →

Categories: Agriculture | Genetics | Journal Club | Tagged corn, genome, plant biology, plant cell, protein binding, transcription | Leave a comment

Transgenic switchgrass cleans up contamination from military explosives

Posted on May 14, 2021 by Carolyn Beans

At military sites in the United States and across the globe, routine live-fire trainings produce a downpour of an explosive known as RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine). A synthetic chemical, RDX can threaten human health, damaging the nervous system if inhaled or ingested. … Continue reading →

Massive study suggests chimp populations mixed more recently than previously reported

Posted on March 19, 2021 by David Adam

A recent study in Communications Biology reports results from the largest such survey of chimpanzee genetics so far. It suggests that animals from the different groups have mixed more recently than many researchers in the field previously believed. The findings … Continue reading →

Agricultural spray could quickly deliver advantageous genes to crops mid-growing season

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Carolyn Beans

Plant breeders are masters of genome tuning, spending years developing crops with the genes to resist disease, drought, and pests. Now, a team of industry and academic researchers in Germany and the United Kingdom has developed a viral vector technology … Continue reading →

Noncoding DNA shown to underlie function, cause limb malformations

Posted on February 19, 2021 by David Adam

Genes that code for proteins make up only about 2% of the human genome. Many researchers once dismissed the other 98% of the genome as “junk DNA,” but geneticists now know these noncoding regions help to regulate the activity of … Continue reading →

Categories: Biochemistry | Genetics | Journal Club | Tagged CRISPR, EN1, gene, junk DNA, lncRNA | 2 Comments

A cellular and genetic atlas of the lung offers insights into disease and development

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Amy McDermott

Explorers need maps. That’s as true for hikers blazing trails as it is for molecular biologists striving to cure disease. A new atlas of the lungs, recently published in Nature, is the most comprehensive map ever of that vital organ. … Continue reading →

Categories: Genetics | Journal Club | Medical Sciences | Tagged bioengineering, cancer, cells, gene expression, lung, map, molecular biology, organ transplant, single-cell RNA sequencing | Leave a comment

Smaller salamander species associated with smaller genomes

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Carolyn Beans

The world’s tiniest salamanders are so small that some body parts appear to get short shrift. Those in the genus Thorius, for example, have heads that are “mind bogglingly small, maybe half the size of a pencil eraser,” says herpetologist … Continue reading →

Deep-sea mussels still show biological rhythms tracking sunlight, tides

Posted on July 24, 2020 by Amy McDermott

Like many land animals, marine organisms follow daily and seasonal clocks—in the water, those clocks are set by the cadence of the sun and the moon. But researchers hadn’t known if deep-sea creatures also exhibit biological rhythms, tucked away in … Continue reading →

Categories: Ecology | Genetics | Journal Club | Tagged chronobiology, circadian rhythms, deep sea, marine ecosystem, tides | Leave a comment

Snake venom evolved in fits and spurts

Posted on May 15, 2020 by Amy McDermott

The cocktail of toxins in snake venom experienced constant change with pulses of rapid evolution over the last 60 million years, according to a recent study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Venom, the researchers report, has changed … Continue reading →

Categories: Evolution | Genetics | Journal Club | Tagged diversification, phylogenetics, RNA expression, snake, speciation, toxin, venom | Leave a comment

Variation in a single gene increases plant yield in groups but not in pairs

Posted on March 27, 2020 by Carolyn Beans

Groups of diverse plant species often produce more seeds than monocultures. But whether plants ramp up yield in response to genetically distinct, direct neighbors, as opposed to a broader neighborhood of diverse plants, remains an open question in ecology. “It’s … Continue reading →