Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Recent technological advances are allowing genome-wide analysis of the function of individual alleles in terms of expression levels, histone modifications and DNA methylation. Approaches that discriminate between alleles offer great potential for improving our understanding ofcis-regulatory variation.
Our understanding of the evolution and molecular basis of plant–pathogen interactions has recently been advanced by bringing together genetic and genomic studies of both plants and pathogens. Insights into the strategies used by plants to recognize pathogens may lead to novel agricultural applications.
Accumulating evidence suggests that core promoter recognition complexes have active roles in generating specific transcriptional programmes during development. Other new roles for components of these complexes have also been identified, such as maintaining gene expression states across cell divisions.
Most of the human genome consists of non-protein-coding DNA. This article describes the progress made in annotating this non-coding portion of the genome by combining data from comparative and functional genomics analyses.
How do new gene and protein functions emerge? The authors argue that the effect of mutations on protein structure and activity, the trade-offs of these mutations, and any buffering mechanisms influence whether a given protein function can evolve and the mechanism by which this process is likely to occur.
Recent evidence indicates that gene bookmarking — the combination of mitotic retention of transcription factors at promoters, histone modifications and DNA methylation — is a novel epigenetic mechanism that sustains cellular identity after mitosis. This Opinion article discusses the importance of bookmarking in biological control and disease.
