Table of contents
August 2007 Vol 8 No 8
Research Highlights
Genomics: Mysteries of heterochromatic sequences unravelled | PDF (214 KB)
p567 | doi:10.1038/nrg2161
Disease genetics: A pathway to complexity | PDF (190 KB)
p568 | doi:10.1038/nrg2163
Development: PGCs' epigenetic travelogue | PDF (285 KB)
p568 | doi:10.1038/nrg2169
RNA world: Introducing the mirtron | PDF (285 KB)
p568 | doi:10.1038/nrg2170
In brief
| PDF (87 KB)
p569 | doi:10.1038/nrg2175
Genetic screens: Cell-shape networks get a screening | PDF (286 KB)
p570 | doi:10.1038/nrg2168
Technology: Spotting variation from expression profiles | PDF (101 KB)
p570 | doi:10.1038/nrg2173
Chromatin: A blast of HOTAIR silences distant chromatin | PDF (119 KB)
p571 | doi:10.1038/nrg2174
Development: Alternative splicing switches on the brain | PDF (195 KB)
p572 | doi:10.1038/nrg2162
In brief
| PDF (87 KB)
p572 | doi:10.1038/nrg2176
Reviews
Engineering targeted viral vectors for gene therapy
Reinhard Waehler, Stephen J. Russell & David T. Curiel
p573 | doi:10.1038/nrg2141
A key challenge in gene therapy is vector targeting to specific cells, while avoiding effects on other tissues. Several strategies have been developed recently to enable targeting of the main viral vectors, moving them a step closer to clinical use.
Replication in context: dynamic regulation of DNA replication patterns in metazoans
Mirit I. Aladjem
p588 | doi:10.1038/nrg2143
Spatial and temporal patterns of metazoan DNA replication are emerging as being dynamically regulated by tissue-specific and developmental cues, and by epigenetic modifications. These features might allow coordination with transcription and chromatin assembly, and enable changes in gene expression patterns.
Mining gene expression profiles: expression signatures as cancer phenotypes
Joseph R. Nevins & Anil Potti
p601 | doi:10.1038/nrg2137
Expression signatures have tremendous power to identify new cancer subtypes and to predict clinical outcomes. Using these signatures as surrogate phenotypes researchers can link diverse experimental systems to dissect the complexity of tumorigenesis in vivo.
The distribution of fitness effects of new mutations
Adam Eyre-Walker & Peter D. Keightley
p610 | doi:10.1038/nrg2146
Mutations can be deleterious, neutral or, in rare cases, advantageous. The relative frequencies of these types across a genome constitutes the distribution of fitness effects. The properties of this distribution have important consequences in both medical and evolutionary genetics.
Mutation rate variation in multicellular eukaryotes: causes and consequences
Charles F. Baer, Michael M. Miyamoto & Dee R. Denver
p619 | doi:10.1038/nrg2158
Relatively little is known about what underlies mutation rate variation at an empirical level, particularly in multicellular eukaryotes. The authors review theoretical and empirical results to provide a framework for future studies of why and how mutation rate evolves in multicellular species.
Perspectives
Science and society
Share and share alike: deciding how to distribute the scientific and social benefits of genomic data
Morris W. Foster & Richard R. Sharp
p633 | doi:10.1038/nrg2124
Instead of taking a single-stakeholder perspective, the authors propose that a systematic approach that takes into account multiple stakeholders and their sometimes overlapping interests should be taken to facilitate decisions about genomic data sharing.
Opinion
Copy number variants and genetic traits: closer to the resolution of phenotypic to genotypic variability
Jacques S. Beckmann, Xavier Estivill & Stylianos E. Antonarakis
p639 | doi:10.1038/nrg2149
Copy number variation constitutes a major source of inter-individual genetic variation that could explain variable disease penetrance and variation in the phenotypic expression of aneuploidies, and could be an important factor in the aetiology of complex traits. Therefore, systematic exploration of both single nucleotide and copy number variation will be key to identifying the genomic contributors to polygenic traits and diseases.