Editorials in 2014

Systems models of the ways transcription factor networks operate and evolve are essential for understanding cell identity, developmental commitment and regulatory variation. Terminologies from different techniques and disciplines may need to be adapted or put aside to make and test these models effectively.

We invite proposals by 1 March for pan-cancer analyses from public data sets to be submitted by the end of 2015. We will coordinate expressions of interest from the Nature family of journals and index the resulting publications prominently in a web focus and special issue of the journal.

We wholeheartedly endorse this new journal concentrating on variants causing and associated with disease and trait phenotypes, especially the Data Report format for rapid publication and the database dissemination of the full spectrum of findings from a single familial variant to a comprehensive locus review.

Brazil's success in applying a systems approach to agricultural productivity has been rapidly followed by an expansion in postgraduate training with particular strength in agronomy, plant molecular biology and biotechnology. Research publications with international impact will be a key to sustaining and exporting these successes.

Data sharing provides research with an essential opportunity for error correction by collaborators and disinterested parties alike. Public deposition ensures the useful formatting and recording of essential metadata.

Our ability to map trait-associated regulatory variation still vastly exceeds the prospects for dissecting allele-specific effects on gene expression and activity in vivo in relevant tissues and organs. A small number of intensive investigations into functional variants should pave the way for scaleable strategies using high-throughput techniques and genomic data integration.

We welcome our new sister journal Nature Plants and the increased commitment to the plant science community that it represents. This is an opportunity for Nature Genetics to emphasize the use of genetic and genomic tools and resources in discovering new plant biology and solving major agricultural challenges.

Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health, recently highlighted in Nature the need to identify and correct systematic problems in biomedical research. One such effort, the Stanford Meta-Research Innovation Center, will monitor the practice of research and suggest policies for improvement. We commend this initiative that supports our commitment to publishing scientifically rigorous research.

Diverse neurodegenerative diseases share a common pathological feature, namely the accumulation of misfolded proteins. However, both drug development and research need more standardization of the biomarkers for the protein types involved. The bold strategy of integrating high-throughput genetic and chemical screens in yeast with experiments in neurons derived from genetically modified human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is producing many significant new molecular insights into disease mechanisms.

Community standards for data access, interoperability and metadata only make sense if data are creatively reused to further research. We are therefore inviting the submission of Analysis papers that reformat and integrate existing data sets to generate substantial novel insights into gene expression in cell differentiation transitions and different cell fates.

The price of DNA sequencing has never been lower. However, there is little consensus as to when the identification of a genetic variant is clinically useful. Clinical geneticists carrying out systematic community reviews of evidence for the pathogenicity of variants collected in locus-specific and disease-specific databases are beginning to bridge the gap between research evidence and rules used to make clinical decisions.