Table of contents
From the editors
p507 | doi:10.1038/nrg2648
Research Highlights
Complex disease: Schizophrenia: missing heritability found? | PDF (165 KB)
p509 | doi:10.1038/nrg2643
MicroRNAs: HITS-CLIP hits the microRNA target | PDF (201 KB)
p510 | doi:10.1038/nrg2635
Regeneration: Flies get into renewal | PDF (246 KB)
p510 | doi:10.1038/nrg2637
Technology: The sequencing game | PDF (132 KB)
p510 | doi:10.1038/nrg2646
In brief
X inactivation | Genome annotation | Epigenetics | Evolution | PDF (131 KB)
p511 | doi:10.1038/nrg2644
Evolution: Turning up the heat | PDF (175 KB)
p512 | doi:10.1038/nrg2638
Gene regulation: Sequence, chromatin, action! | PDF (147 KB)
p512 | doi:10.1038/nrg2647
Cell signalling: Telomerase gets Wnt talking | PDF (153 KB)
p513 | doi:10.1038/nrg2642
Evolution: Protein kinases mix it up | PDF (153 KB)
p514 | doi:10.1038/nrg2639
In brief
Phylogenetics | Technology | Epigenetics | Transcriptomics | PDF (104 KB)
p514 | doi:10.1038/nrg2645
Ethics watch
An offer you can't refuse? Ethical implications of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis | PDF (203 KB)
p515 | doi:10.1038/nrg2631
See also: Correspondence by Ravitsky | Correspondence by Schmitz et al.
Reviews
Article series: Modelling
Quantitative approaches in developmental biology
Andrew C. Oates, Nicole Gorfinkiel, Marcos González-Gaitán & Carl-Philipp Heisenberg
p517 | doi:10.1038/nrg2548
This article describes the growing and invaluable contribution that quantitative mathematical frameworks are making to generating and testing hypotheses in developmental biology, and in shaping new ways of understanding developmental processes across molecular, cellular and tissue scales.
Article series: Fundamental concepts in genetics
Fitness and its role in evolutionary genetics
H. Allen Orr
p531 | doi:10.1038/nrg2603
The concept of fitness is fundamental to understanding natural selection, but defining and measuring fitness involves some subtle distinctions. This Review explains theoretical aspects of fitness, introduces current experimental approaches and highlights issues that remain unresolved.
Article series: Modelling
Evolutionary analysis of the dynamics of viral infectious disease
Oliver G. Pybus & Andrew Rambaut
p540 | doi:10.1038/nrg2583
The rapid evolution of many important pathogens, particularly RNA viruses, means that their ecological and evolutionary dynamics occur on the same timescale. This Review discusses the insights into the transmission and epidemiology of viruses that have been provided by analyses of their evolutionary dynamics across a wide range of biological scales.
Mechanisms of change in gene copy number
P. J. Hastings, James R. Lupski, Susan M. Rosenberg & Grzegorz Ira
p551 | doi:10.1038/nrg2593
Copy number variation is a major source of variation between individuals that is increasingly recognized as influencing genome evolution and human disease. But how does it arise? The authors discuss predicted mechanisms of copy number change, including non-homologous end-joining and non-homologous repair of broken replication forks.
The genetics of quantitative traits: challenges and prospects
Trudy F. C. Mackay, Eric A. Stone & Julien F. Ayroles
p565 | doi:10.1038/nrg2612
Understanding the basis of phenotypic variation is one of the most challenging problems in biology. The arrival of high-throughput genomic technologies now looks set to allow an integrative systems genetic approach to dissecting the genetic component of complex traits.
Perspectives
Innovation
Exploiting and antagonizing microRNA regulation for therapeutic and experimental applications
Brian D. Brown & Luigi Naldini
p578 | doi:10.1038/nrg2628
Constructs containing artificial microRNA target sites have the potential to improve a range of therapeutic strategies that are based on gene delivery or viruses. The same technology can be used for experimental purposes, in animal transgenics and to study the functions of microRNAs.
