Table of contents
February 2006 Vol 7 No 2
Research Highlights
Gene therapy: Proof of delivery | PDF (140 KB)
p78 | doi:10.1038/nrg1789
Yeast genomics: Shaping up the genome | PDF (84 KB)
p79 | doi:10.1038/nrg1792
In the news
A criminal database expansion pushes the boundaries | PDF (47 KB)
p79 | doi:10.1038/nrg1796
Gene expression: Where does all this noise come from? | PDF (140 KB)
p80 | doi:10.1038/nrg1790
Sex chromosomes: A more expressive chromosome | PDF (92 KB)
p80 | doi:10.1038/nrg1795
Developmental biology: How to get your bearings | PDF (96 KB)
p81 | doi:10.1038/nrg1794
Developmental genetics: Back talk | PDF (114 KB)
p82 | doi:10.1038/nrg1791
Gene regulation: No escape from micromanagement | PDF (104 KB)
p82 | doi:10.1038/nrg1793
In brief
Palaeogenomics | Stem cells | Plant genomes | PDF (65 KB)
p82 | doi:10.1038/nrg1797
In brief
Evolutionary genomics | Genetical genomics | Epigenetics | Human disease | PDF (66 KB)
p83 | doi:10.1038/nrg1800
Ethics watch
Tool-sharing issues in coherent population-based research | PDF (653 KB)
p84 | doi:10.1038/nrg1799
Developmental biology: Regeneration swims into view | PDF (76 KB)
p84 | doi:10.1038/nrg1801
Reviews
Structural variation in the human genome
Lars Feuk, Andrew R. Carson & Stephen W. Scherer
p85 | doi:10.1038/nrg1767
New technologies have revealed widespread structural variation in the human genome, including copy-number variants, insertions, inversions and translocations. These variants are predicted to comprise millions of nucleotides of heterogeneity within every genome, with important implications for human diversity and disease.
Hearing silence: non-neutral evolution at synonymous sites in mammals
J. V. Chamary, Joanna L. Parmley & Laurence D. Hurst
p98 | doi:10.1038/nrg1770
Contrary to the neutral theory, silent mutations can be under natural selection. This is often seen in organisms from large populations, but the authors present evidence that it also occurs in mammals, because synonymous mutations affect mRNA stability and splicing.
Digital genetics: unravelling the genetic basis of evolution
Christoph Adami
p109 | doi:10.1038/nrg1771
Evolution experiments with digital organisms have allowed insights that are not possible in biological systems. This review discusses some of the advances in understanding the interaction between mutation rate and genomic architecture, and also the evolution of sex.
Literature mining for the biologist: from information retrieval to biological discovery
Lars Juhl Jensen, Jasmin Saric & Peer Bork
p119 | doi:10.1038/nrg1768
Recent advances in tools for extracting facts from the scientific literature will soon enable the automatic annotation and analysis of the growing number of system-wide experimental data sets. Mining the literature is also rapidly becoming useful for both hypothesis generation and biological discovery.
Towards multidimensional genome annotation
Jennifer L. Reed, Iman Famili, Ines Thiele & Bernhard O. Palsson
p130 | doi:10.1038/nrg1769
Genome annotation is rapidly moving beyond the one-dimensional view that sequence analysis provides. Growing information about component interactions allows two-dimensional annotations to be generated, while knowledge about the physical arrangement of chromosomes and the changes that occur during evolution add third and fourth dimensions.
Perspectives
Opinion
Models for facilitating access to patents on genetic inventions
Geertrui Van Overwalle, Esther van Zimmeren, Birgit Verbeure & Gert Matthijs
p143 | doi:10.1038/nrg1765
Patents for genetic inventions have increased in recent years, raising fears that this practice will restrict access to research and health care. Models for facilitating access to patented genetic inventions already exist, whereas others can be developed for use in genetics.
Opinion
Decoding the research exemption
Jordan Paradise & Christopher Janson
p148 | doi:10.1038/nrg1766
The patentability of genes is a controversial issue. As a partial remedy, many countries have exemptions from patent liability for non-commercial research. However, these exemptions are themselves problematic. The authors examine solutions to the problem and advocate the abolition of gene patents.