Featured
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News |
The cicadas are here! Why US researchers are swarming to study them
Two particular broods of the insects are popping up together for the first time in two centuries, and there’s a lot we don’t know about them.
- Sumeet Kulkarni
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Research Briefing |
Baobab trees’ evolutionary history could inform conservation efforts
The genomes of all eight living species of baobab tree (Adansonia sp.) reveal the group’s origin and diversification history. Ecological analyses were incorporated to characterize the baobabs’ past population dynamics and were used to propose protection measures for these iconic species, including the reassessment of their conservation status and the close monitoring of several of Madagascar’s baobab species.
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Article
| Open AccessThe complete sequence and comparative analysis of ape sex chromosomes
Reference assemblies of great ape sex chromosomes show that Y chromosomes are more variable in size and sequence than X chromosomes and provide a resource for studies on human evolution and conservation genetics of non-human apes.
- Kateryna D. Makova
- , Brandon D. Pickett
- & Adam M. Phillippy
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Article
| Open AccessMolecular basis for differential Igk versus Igh V(D)J joining mechanisms
Experiments in mouse models, and in cell lines that only allow primary Vκ-to-Jκ rearrangements, enable characterization of the mechanisms of V(D)J recombination.
- Yiwen Zhang
- , Xiang Li
- & Hongli Hu
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News |
The immune system can sabotage gene therapies — can scientists rein it in?
People treated with gene therapy cannot receive a second dose for fear of a dangerous immune response. Researchers hope to find a way around this.
- Heidi Ledford
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Technology Feature |
Software tools identify forgotten genes
Find My Understudied Genes and the Unknome database highlight interesting genes that have been neglected by science.
- Matthew Hutson
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News |
Neanderthal–human baby-making was recent — and brief
Analysis of dozens of ancient genomes reveals that close encounters between the two species took place in a narrow time window.
- Michael Eisenstein
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News & Views |
Cells cope with altered chromosome numbers by enhancing protein breakdown
When chromosomes are lost or gained, massive changes in gene expression disrupt the delicate balance of proteins in a cell. Yeasts with incorrect chromosome numbers counteract this by degrading excess proteins.
- Zuzana Storchová
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News |
Bizarre bacteria defy textbooks by writing new genes
Bacterial defensive systems scramble the standard workflow of life.
- Ewen Callaway
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News |
Lab-grown sperm and eggs: ‘epigenetic’ reset in human cells paves the way
Technique wipes away tags on DNA that must be reprogrammed during development of reproductive cells.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article |
A deep catalogue of protein-coding variation in 983,578 individuals
- Kathie Y. Sun
- , Xiaodong Bai
- & Suganthi Balasubramanian
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News |
Pig-organ transplants: what three human recipients have taught scientists
As researchers mark the loss of the first living recipient of a pig kidney, they share what they’ve learnt about xenotransplantation.
- Max Kozlov
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Nature Podcast |
Lizard-inspired building design could save lives
How knocking down a building helped researchers design a safer structure, and a sustainable 3D printing resin made from a bodybuilding supplement.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Elizabeth Gibney
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News Feature |
How to kill the ‘zombie’ cells that make you age
Researchers are using new molecules, engineered immune cells and gene therapy to kill senescent cells and treat age-related diseases.
- Carissa Wong
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Review Article |
Decoding the interplay between genetic and non-genetic drivers of metastasis
This Review discusses the importance of genetic and non-genetic reprogramming events during the metastatic cascade.
- Panagiotis Karras
- , James R. M. Black
- & Jean-Christophe Marine
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Article
| Open AccessThe rise of baobab trees in Madagascar
We carried out genomic and ecological analyses of all eight extant baobab species, providing insights into their evolutionary history and recommendations for conservation efforts.
- Jun-Nan Wan
- , Sheng-Wei Wang
- & Qing-Feng Wang
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News & Views |
The phenomenon of genomic imprinting was discovered 40 years ago
Some genes carry an ‘imprint’ on either the maternal or the paternal copy, which determines whether or not that copy is expressed. This 1984 discovery changed how scientists think about gene regulation and inheritance.
- Anne C. Ferguson-Smith
- & Marisa S. Bartolomei
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Research Briefing |
Mega study charts how genetic variants affect metabolism
A genome-wide association study of metabolic biomarkers in 136,000 participants discovered more than 400 independent genomic regions affecting metabolism. The study also highlighted the importance of participant characteristics, such as fasting status, that can substantially affect the genetic associations.
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Research Briefing |
A jawless-fish genome untangles the history of vertebrate genome multiplications
Clarifying how genome duplication and triplication events shaped early vertebrate genomes has presented a challenge in evolutionary biology. The genome of the jawless hagfish provides a missing piece of this puzzle.
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Research Highlight |
CRISPR therapy restores some vision to people with blindness
People with an inherited condition that causes vision loss in childhood had vision improvements after treatment to replace a mutated gene.
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Research Highlight |
How the cauliflower got its curlicues
More than 2,000 years of domestication have given the popular vegetable its short stem and clumpy ‘curds’.
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Technology Feature |
Powerful ‘nanopore’ DNA sequencing method tackles proteins too
Latest methods bring the speed, portability, and long read lengths of nanopore sequencing to proteomics.
- Caroline Seydel
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News & Views |
Genomics reveal unknown mutation-promoting agents at global sites
Genetic sequencing of human kidney cancers worldwide has revealed associations between geographical locations and specific mutation patterns, indicating exposure to known and unknown mutation-promoting agents.
- Irene Franco
- & Fran Supek
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Nature Podcast |
Dad’s microbiome can affect offspring’s health — in mice
Disrupting gut microbes increases risk of growth issues in the next generation, and understanding geographic variations in cancer rates.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Article
| Open AccessPaternal microbiome perturbations impact offspring fitness
Disturbances in the gut microbiota of male mice manifest as fitness defects in their offspring by affecting plancenta function, revealing a paternal gut–germline axis.
- Ayele Argaw-Denboba
- , Thomas S. B. Schmidt
- & Jamie A. Hackett
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Technology Feature |
85 million cells — and counting — at your fingertips
Chan Zuckerberg CELL by GENE Discover aims to be a one-stop shop for single-cell RNA sequencing data storage, access and analysis.
- Jeffrey M. Perkel
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News |
Bird flu virus has been spreading among US cows for months, RNA reveals
Genomic analysis suggests that the outbreak probably began in December or January, but a shortage of data is hampering efforts to pin down the source.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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News |
Could a rare mutation that causes dwarfism also slow ageing?
People with Laron syndrome have a low risk of heart disease and a number of other age-related disorders, hinting at strategies for new treatments.
- Mariana Lenharo
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News & Views |
Marsupial genomes reveal how a skin membrane for gliding evolved
A parachute-like skin membrane, the patagium, evolved independently in several marsupial species. Genomic analysis suggests that this trait came about through different changes to the regulation of the same gene.
- Darío G. Lupiáñez
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Article
| Open AccessEmx2 underlies the development and evolution of marsupial gliding membranes
Patagia—the mammalian gliding membrane—repeatedly originated through a process of convergent genomic evolution, whereby the regulation of Emx2 was altered by distinct cis-regulatory elements in independently evolved species.
- Jorge A. Moreno
- , Olga Dudchenko
- & Ricardo Mallarino
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World View |
Ecologists: don’t lose touch with the joy of fieldwork
Amid the data deluge provided by lab-based techniques, such as environmental-DNA analysis, true connection still comes only in the outdoors.
- Chris Mantegna
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News & Views |
Targeting RNA opens therapeutic avenues for Timothy syndrome
A therapeutic strategy that alters gene expression in a rare and severe neurodevelopmental condition has been tested in stem-cell-based models of the disease, and has been shown to correct genetic and cellular defects.
- Silvia Velasco
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News & Views |
Ancient DNA traces family lines and political shifts in the Avar empire
Genetic pedigrees spanning nine generations uncover the social organization of a nomadic empire that dominated much of central and eastern Europe from the sixth to the early ninth century.
- Lara M. Cassidy
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News & Views |
Tumours form without genetic mutations
Researchers find that brief and reversible inhibition of a gene-silencing mechanism leads to irreversible tumour formation in fruit flies, challenging the idea that cancer is caused only by permanent changes to DNA.
- Anne-Kathrin Classen
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Nature Podcast |
How gliding marsupials got their ‘wings’
Researchers find the genetic mutations that allow some marsupials to soar, and an ultra-accurate clock is put through its paces on the high seas.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Elizabeth Gibney
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News |
DNA from ancient graves reveals the culture of a mysterious nomadic people
Hundreds of genomes shed light on the marriage habits and social norms of the Avar people of central Europe.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Article
| Open AccessSingle-cell analysis reveals context-dependent, cell-level selection of mtDNA
A new method for tracking single-cell heteroplasmy, called SCI-LITE, is combined with mitochondrial DNA base editing to reveal principles of heteroplasmy dynamics in dividing cells.
- Anna V. Kotrys
- , Timothy J. Durham
- & Vamsi K. Mootha
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Article
| Open AccessTransient loss of Polycomb components induces an epigenetic cancer fate
A transient perturbation of transcriptional silencing mediated by Polycomb proteins is sufficient to induce an epigenetic cancer cell fate in Drosophila in the absence of driver mutations.
- V. Parreno
- , V. Loubiere
- & G. Cavalli
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Article
| Open AccessPhylogenomics and the rise of the angiosperms
Phylogenomic analysis of 7,923 angiosperm species using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes produced an angiosperm tree of life dated with 200 fossil calibrations, providing key insights into evolutionary relationships and diversification.
- Alexandre R. Zuntini
- , Tom Carruthers
- & William J. Baker
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Article
| Open AccessNetwork of large pedigrees reveals social practices of Avar communities
Analysis of ancient DNA from 424 individuals in the Avar period, from the sixth to the ninth century AD, reveals population movement from the steppe and the prolonged existence of a steppe nomadic descent system centred around patrilineality and female exogamy in central Europe.
- Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone
- , Zsófia Rácz
- & Zuzana Hofmanová
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Research Highlight |
Dozens of genes are linked to post-traumatic stress disorder
Findings underscore that genetic factors contribute to development of the condition after a traumatic incident.
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News & Views |
Surprise hybrid origins of a butterfly species
Mating between different species has often been considered an evolutionary dead end, but a study in longwing butterflies suggests that such hybridization could underlie the origins of a new species.
- Megan E. Frayer
- & Jenn M. Coughlan
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Analysis
| Open AccessRefining the impact of genetic evidence on clinical success
Human genetic evidence increases the success rate of drugs from clinical development to approval but we are still far from reaching peak genetic insights to aid the discovery of targets for more effective drugs.
- Eric Vallabh Minikel
- , Jeffery L. Painter
- & Matthew R. Nelson
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Article
| Open AccessHybrid speciation driven by multilocus introgression of ecological traits
Genomic studies of Heliconius butterflies provide evidence that Heliconius elevatus is a hybrid species, and that its speciation was driven by introgression of traits from Heliconius melpomene into the other parent, an ancestor of Heliconius pardalinus.
- Neil Rosser
- , Fernando Seixas
- & Kanchon K. Dasmahapatra
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Research Briefing |
Genetic risk variants lead to type 2 diabetes development through different pathways
The largest genome-wide association study for type 2 diabetes so far, which included several ancestry groups, led to the identification of eight clusters of genetic risk variants. The clusters capture different biological pathways that contribute to the disease, and some clusters are associated with vascular complications.
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Nature Podcast |
The ‘ghost roads’ driving tropical deforestation
Researchers find that a huge number of roads that don’t appear on official maps, and the protein that could determine whether someone is left-handed.
- Nick Petrić Howe
- & Benjamin Thompson
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Article |
Cell-type-resolved mosaicism reveals clonal dynamics of the human forebrain
Using mosaic variant barcode analysis, clonal dynamics of specific cell types are deconvolved in the human forebrain.
- Changuk Chung
- , Xiaoxu Yang
- & Joseph G. Gleeson
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Comment |
AI can help to tailor drugs for Africa — but Africans should lead the way
Computational models that require very little data could transform biomedical and drug development research in Africa, as long as infrastructure, trained staff and secure databases are available.
- Gemma Turon
- , Mathew Njoroge
- & Kelly Chibale
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Research Highlight |
Advanced CRISPR system fixes a deadly mutation in cells
Applying a ‘base editor’ allows cells to crank out increased levels of a vital metabolic enzyme.
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