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RNA interference is a potentially powerful therapeutic tool, and several clinical trials are already under way. A detailed mechanistic understanding is helping to optimize the efficacy and safety of RNAi-based treatments, and expanding delivery options promise to broaden its range of applications.
The emerging field of community genetics integrates genetics and community ecology. Recently developed tools for studying the genetic bases of the co-adaptive process and co-speciation have the potential to revolutionize how co-evolution is studied, how genes are functionally annotated and how conservation genetics strategies are implemented.
Genome sequencing, antigenic mapping and epidemiological modelling are enhancing our understanding of the evolution of human influenza virus. However, the full picture will require a genomic view of genetic diversity, including the acquisition of polymorphism data from within hosts and from diverse geographical regions.
It has long been thought that mutations in regulatory sequences contribute significantly to adaptive evolution, and now empirical evidence is starting to confirm this. But are there qualitative differences between the contributions of regulatory and coding mutations to phenotypic evolution?
Light influences plant development through extensive transcriptome remodelling. Recent genetic and genome-wide studies have identified crucial components of the hierarchies of transcription factors that control light-regulated transcriptional networks, providing insights into signal integration and the generation of organ-specific responses.
The first conference on genetics was held by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1906. A close examination of how this event was organized and how genetic research was done at that time reveals many surprisingly familiar themes.
Standardization and mass production have been invaluable in biological software, but what about accommodating the specific needs of different experiments? The authors propose a method for generating such customized software infrastructures from existing parts.
