Research Briefing |
Featured
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News |
COVID spurs boom in genome sequencing for infectious diseases
From dengue to Ebola, laboratories in Asia and Africa are using sequencing technology and skills acquired during the pandemic to track endemic diseases quickly.
- Smriti Mallapaty
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Technology Feature |
Which single-cell analysis tool is best? Scientists offer advice
In the fast-paced field of single-cell biology, studies that compare methods can help scientists to pick the right technique for their research.
- Amber Dance
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Research Briefing |
DNA reveals that mastodons roamed a forested Greenland two million years ago
Ancient environmental DNA from northern Greenland opens a new chapter in genetic research, demonstrating that it is possible to track the ecology and evolution of biological communities two million years ago. The record shows an open boreal-forest ecosystem inhabited by large animals such as mastodons and reindeer.
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Nature Podcast |
Oldest DNA reveals 2-million-year-old ecosystem
Mastodon DNA found in ancient Greenland permafrost, and modelling the climate emissions of the plastics sector.
- Benjamin Thompson
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News |
Oldest-ever DNA shows mastodons roamed Greenland 2 million years ago
Genetic material collected from permafrost shows northern part of the island was once a lush forest, home to poplar trees and other surprising organisms.
- Ewen Callaway
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Research Highlight |
Fast-evolving genome regions point to DNA that sets humans apart
The collection of 1,500 rapidly changing segments is rich in sequences associated with brain development and disease.
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News |
CRISPR tools found in thousands of viruses could boost gene editing
Phages probably picked up DNA-cutting systems from microbial hosts, and might use them to fight other viruses.
- Heidi Ledford
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Article |
THP9 enhances seed protein content and nitrogen-use efficiency in maize
Genetic analyses of teosinte, the wild ancestor of maize, identify a locus (THP9) that is associated with high seed protein content and increased nitrogen-use efficiency, suggesting that THP9 could have applications in crop breeding.
- Yongcai Huang
- , Haihai Wang
- & Yongrui Wu
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Correspondence |
WHO principles speed up ethical sharing of pathogen genomic data
- Vasee Moorthy
- , Oliver Morgan
- & Soumya Swaminathan
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News Feature |
She was convicted of killing her four children. Could a gene mutation set her free?
Kathleen Folbigg has spent 19 years in prison and was dubbed ‘Australia’s worst female serial killer’. Now, an inquiry into her case will look at clinical genetics in a whole new way.
- Nicky Phillips
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Research Highlight |
Platypuses inbreed more when big dams loom
Large barriers to the animals’ movement could threaten their long-term future.
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Article
| Open AccessBroad transcriptomic dysregulation occurs across the cerebral cortex in ASD
RNA sequencing reveals widespread transcriptomic changes across the cerebral cortex in autism spectrum disorder, including primary sensory regions, in addition to association regions, as well as an attenuation of regional identity.
- Michael J. Gandal
- , Jillian R. Haney
- & Daniel H. Geschwind
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Research Highlight |
Families on three continents inherited their epilepsy from a single person
A genetic variant connected to a rare form of inherited epilepsy arose in an individual who lived some 800 years ago.
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Nature Podcast |
Ancient DNA reveals family of Neanderthals living in Siberian cave
Evidence of the first known neanderthal family group, and the latest from the Nature Briefing.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Comment |
Counter the weaponization of genetics research by extremists
Geneticists must rethink how they conduct their research and how they communicate results.
- Jedidiah Carlson
- , Brenna M. Henn
- & Sohini Ramachandran
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News & Views |
Mystery find of microbial DNA elements called Borgs
Microorganisms store some genetic information on non-chromosomal elements. The emergence of a surprising version of these elements shifts our understanding of their diversity and potential roles.
- Christian Rinke
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Research Briefing |
An assembly line for an improved human reference genome
Various approaches for assembling DNA sequences were evaluated to establish the best way to generate high-quality reference genomes that, in the future, could be combined into a human ‘pangenome’. A combination approach that yielded the best outcome was then used to assemble both sets of an individual’s chromosomes.
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News & Views |
The first genomic portrait of a Neanderthal family
Ancient genomic data have been retrieved for 13 Neanderthals from 2 caves in Siberia. The genomes provide unprecedented insights into the social organization of Neanderthal communities.
- Lara M. Cassidy
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Article
| Open AccessSemi-automated assembly of high-quality diploid human reference genomes
Which combination of current genome sequencing and assembly approaches results in high-quality, complete diploid genome assemblies is determined.
- Erich D. Jarvis
- , Giulio Formenti
- & Karen H. Miga
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News Round-Up |
AI mathematician, tumour fungi and Africa’s coronavirus genomes
The latest science news, in brief.
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News |
The monkeypox virus is mutating. Are scientists worried?
In some samples, large chunks of the virus’s genome have disappeared — but understanding whether the mutations affect its behaviour will be difficult.
- Max Kozlov
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Article
| Open AccessNuclear-embedded mitochondrial DNA sequences in 66,083 human genomes
A study examining DNA transfer from mitochondria to the nucleus using whole-genome sequences from 66,083 people shows that this is an ongoing dynamic process in normal cells with distinct roles in different types of cancer.
- Wei Wei
- , Katherine R. Schon
- & Patrick F. Chinnery
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News |
100,000 coronavirus genomes reveal COVID’s evolution in Africa
Massive SARS-CoV-2 sequencing project in Africa brings global benefits.
- Diana Kwon
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News |
Will Brazil’s COVID disaster sway its presidential election?
President Jair Bolsonaro is up for re-election, but his policies failed to slow the coronavirus’s spread.
- Meghie Rodrigues
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News Feature |
The controversial embryo tests that promise a better baby
Some companies offer tests that rank embryos based on their risk of developing complex diseases such as schizophrenia or heart disease. Are they accurate — or ethical?
- Max Kozlov
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Clinical Briefing |
Precision medicine improves outcomes in metastatic breast cancer
For breast cancers that have spread, a randomized phase II clinical trial shows that using genomic analysis to target therapies can improve outcomes, but only in people with a genetic alteration that has previously been associated with antitumour activity in clinical trials.
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News Round-Up |
Levitating nanoparticles, medieval-burial mystery and ancient femur
The latest science news, in brief.
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Technology Feature |
Smart software untangles gene regulation in cells
Working out how a cell is wired lets researchers find key regulators of behaviour.
- Jeffrey M. Perkel
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News |
Genomics solves the mystery of a medieval mass burial
Analysis identifies the remains in an English well as those of medieval Jews, who were probably the victims of an antisemitic massacre.
- McKenzie Prillaman
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News |
Ancient tooth DNA reveals how ‘cold sore’ herpes virus has evolved
Teeth from long-dead people and animals are divulging the history of modern pathogens.
- Freda Kreier
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Technology Feature |
A graphics toolkit for visualizing genome data
Powerful ‘grammar’ allows geneticists to display their data in interactive and scalable illustrations.
- Jeffrey M. Perkel
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Article
| Open AccessPandemic-scale phylogenomics reveals the SARS-CoV-2 recombination landscape
A new phylogenomic method is developed that can detect recombinations in virus lineages in pandemic-scale datasets.
- Yatish Turakhia
- , Bryan Thornlow
- & Russell Corbett-Detig
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Research Briefing |
A map of the human heart after myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction, or heart attack, is one of the world’s biggest killers. An analysis of spatial and single-cell changes to human tissue after a heart attack provides insights into disease mechanisms and builds a resource for the discovery of therapeutics.
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Article
| Open AccessDiverse mutational landscapes in human lymphocytes
Sequencing of individual human lymphocyte clones shows that they are highly prone to mutations, with higher burdens in memory cells than in naive cells arising from mutational processes associated with differentiation and tissue residency.
- Heather E. Machado
- , Emily Mitchell
- & Peter J. Campbell
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Article |
RNA editing underlies genetic risk of common inflammatory diseases
cis-RNA editing quantitative trait loci, which are associated with immunogenic double-stranded RNAs, underlie genome-wide association study variants in common autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
- Qin Li
- , Michael J. Gloudemans
- & Jin Billy Li
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News |
How humans’ ability to digest milk evolved from famine and disease
Landmark study is the first major effort to quantify how lactose tolerance developed.
- Ewen Callaway
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Research Briefing |
Whole-genome sequencing of the UK Biobank
We determined the whole-genome sequences of 150,119 individuals from the UK Biobank and identified more than 600 million sequence variants. The comprehensive data identify novel associations with human traits and show the functional importance of sequence variants inside and outside protein-coding regions.
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News & Views |
A gene-expression axis defines neuron behaviour
A combination of functional imaging and gene-expression profiling in brain tissue has been used to unravel the properties of 35 subtypes of neuron in mice, revealing a gene-expression axis that governs each subtype’s activity.
- Hongkui Zeng
- & Saskia E. J. de Vries
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News & Views |
100-year-old pandemic flu viruses yield new genomes
Lung samples housed in medical archives have yielded three genomes for the influenza A virus that caused the 1918 global pandemic. The sequences reveal mutations that might have triggered the pandemic’s devastating second wave.
- Martha I. Nelson
- & Elodie Ghedin
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Research Highlight |
‘Ghost’ DNA from the world’s rarest wolves lingers in coyotes
Coyotes in isolated Louisiana swamps are found to harbour genetic material from the critically endangered red wolf.
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Spotlight |
Unleashing the power of big data to guide precision medicine in China
Personalized treatments and large population studies in China are helping to uncover patterns for a range of conditions, from autism to hereditary hearing loss.
- Yvaine Ye
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Research Briefing |
Ice Age wolf genomes home in on dog origins
We charted the genetic history of the grey wolf over the past 100,000 years by analysing 72 ancient genomes. Placing dogs into this history, we found that they derive ancestry from at least two separate wolf populations.
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Technology Feature |
How to make spatial maps of gene activity — down to the cellular level
Computational and experimental methods are bringing researchers closer to their goal of revealing exactly where in a cell or tissue each gene is expressed.
- Michael Eisenstein
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Research Briefing |
A wealth of new biosynthetic pathways from the global ocean microbiome
DNA from more than 1,000 marine microbial communities around the world was used to reconstruct around 26,000 genomes. The analyses identified a highly biosynthetically diverse family of bacteria in the open ocean, as well as new enzymes and biochemical compounds.
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News & Views |
Potato genomes pave the way to crop improvement
High-quality genome sequences for 44 wild and cultivated potatoes will enable researchers to better study this essential crop’s evolution and develop varieties that can withstand heat and drought caused by climate change.
- Juanita Gutiérrez-Valencia
- & Tanja Slotte
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Article
| Open AccessGenome evolution and diversity of wild and cultivated potatoes
High-quality diploid assemblies of potato genomes from 24 wild and 20 cultivated potatoes provide insights into the complex evolution and diversity of potatoes, and could have applications in the breeding of hybrid potatoes.
- Dié Tang
- , Yuxin Jia
- & Sanwen Huang
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Article
| Open AccessGraph pangenome captures missing heritability and empowers tomato breeding
A precise catalogue of more than 19 million variants from 838 tomato genomes, including 32 new reference-level genome assemblies, advances the understanding of the heritability of complex traits and demonstrates the power of the graph pangenome in crop breeding.
- Yao Zhou
- , Zhiyang Zhang
- & Sanwen Huang
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Article |
Differential cofactor dependencies define distinct types of human enhancers
The systematic categorization of human enhancers by their cofactor dependencies provides a conceptual framework to understand the sequence and chromatin diversity of enhancers and their roles in different gene-regulatory programmes.
- Christoph Neumayr
- , Vanja Haberle
- & Alexander Stark
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Article
| Open AccessClonal dynamics of haematopoiesis across the human lifespan
Haematopoiesis has high clonal diversity up to about 65 years of age, after which diversity drops precipitously owing to positive selection acting on a handful of clones that expand exponentially throughout adulthood.
- Emily Mitchell
- , Michael Spencer Chapman
- & Peter J. Campbell