Editorials

Given that it is based on heredity and has the ability to trace connections, genetics as a scientific discipline should be among those most attuned to diversity and global perspectives. Indigenous communities and scientists have much to contribute to genetics research, and they are making their voices heard. We celebrate these essential members of our larger genetics community, and we look forward to working together to learn from past examples, meet present challenges and support future opportunities.

As we usher in a new year of a new decade and ponder what the future will bring for the genetics field, we wish to reflect on some specific areas related to diversity, privacy and genome editing that require attention and vigilance from the community.

As the year comes to a close and we start to look ahead to 2020, we thought that we would highlight some of our favorite Nature Genetics papers from 2019. This snapshot also captures some of the topics and themes in genetics that we are most excited to see develop in the near future.

Popular crop plants have been bred and selected for desirable taste and color traits. Genomic approaches are increasingly being used to provide insights into the origins, evolution and biology of our favorite foods. Large-scale sequencing efforts have brought agriculture genomics into the big-data era, leading to sweet rewards.

Understanding how to biologically interpret the loci identified in genome-wide association studies is a major goal of current genetics research. To achieve this goal, we need to understand where, when and how relevant genes are expressed in specific contexts, in order to explore the mechanistic links between genetic associations and diseases or complex traits.

The genome of the model genetic organism Pisum sativum, or pea plant, links nineteenth-century genetics to twenty-first-century genomics, serving as a symbol of how far the genetics field has developed and how greatly technologies have advanced. Almost every student’s introduction to genetics currently involves learning Mendel’s laws; we envision that genomics and genome sequencing will become just as foundational in the education of future geneticists.

Record high temperatures are being seen worldwide, thus placing strains on human health and disrupting the availability of essential resources such as food and water. Aberrant weather patterns in the form of intense storms or prolonged drought have put pressure on our agricultural systems and underscored the need for adaptation to a changing climate across many sectors. Complex problems require complex solutions, and genetic approaches could be a powerful tool for helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

We are constantly amazed by the power of genetics and its ability to solve complex and seemingly intractable problems. The creative application of genetic and genomic analyses to diverse areas has led to advances across basic biology and human disease. We hope to continue to see technologies develop that expand the genetic and genomic toolkit and that bring new discoveries and insights into basic and applied research.

In the field of infectious diseases, genomics can be a useful tool for guiding vaccine development. Given the inevitability and increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance, vaccines against pathogenic microbes can be even more valuable than antibiotics as a strategy to prevent serious or deadly infectious diseases. Genomic resources from global analysis of large numbers of clinical isolates can serve as a basis for identifying appropriate candidates for vaccine antigens, and we encourage continued efforts in the generation of pan-genome sequences for bacterial or viral pathogens.

The field of cancer genomics is currently in an exciting and fast-paced era. With advances in sequencing technologies, computational approaches and tumor models, understanding of cancer processes is at an all-time high, and the application of new methods to studying cancer holds great promise for developing important breakthroughs in cancer treatment and prevention.

Genetic resources and analyses overwhelmingly center on individuals of European ancestry. We encourage the community to embrace a global approach to genetic and genomic studies to address imbalances in the composition of cohorts and the subsequent translatability of findings.

The development of CRISPR–Cas technology and its applications in biomedical research have generated much excitement. If fully realized, this technology has the potential to help treat or prevent severe diseases. However, these tools also carry considerable risk if improperly used. The scientific community must promote constructive dialogue among its members and within society at large to ensure that research on genome editing is conducted responsibly.

Ensuring that agricultural production meets the goal of feeding a world experiencing continued human population growth and increasingly severe effects from climate change is an urgent challenge. Genomics has a role to play in maximizing the utility, diversity and yield of resources, as well as in contributing to sustained food security in the future.

Well-designed science education via social media may help to reach a larger group of audiences with the aim of reducing the boundaries between researchers and the public. This may, in turn, move basic science toward translational improvement in human health and agriculture.

We are inviting presubmission enquiries for Articles, Perspectives and Analyses on human, animal, plant and microbial genetics and genomics from Africa, by corresponding authors living and working in African countries, with the aim of publishing an issue of the journal devoted to African genetics.

A number of journalistic reports over the last year have drawn attention to dismaying trends in maternal and fetal health in the United States, particularly among African Americans. This public health crisis highlights the need for research into the genetic basis of maternal–fetal health and consideration of the genetic risk factors and exposures of women and children in diverse populations more broadly.

Precision genomic medicine is now technically feasible. Just as global positioning systems revolutionized the logistics of travel, so genome-wide polygenic risk scores (GPSs) now have the potential to inform our trajectories of health and to serve in the prevention and mitigation of many common and complex diseases. We welcome research into the implementation of—and equity of access to—genetic predictors and their integration into clinical and evidence-based medical practice.

Genomic research, sensitively deployed, has enormous potential to improve human health, animal health and agricultural crop quality and to guide sustainable contributions to the health of our environment. Within this broad context, we can learn from the metabolic adaptations and vulnerabilities of species threatened by environmental challenges in the context of climate change.

In this issue, we highlight examples of the growing capability of genetic epidemiology and its intersection with genomic data to identify the underpinnings of the functions, predispositions and vulnerabilities of the human brain. In particular, we are publishing three studies into intelligence, neuroticism and epilepsy with the potential to guide interventions in education, neuroscience and medicine, respectively.