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Maintaining ignorance to self-nucleic acids can prevent inflammatory diseases such as Aicardi–Goutières syndrome (AGS). A new study finds that mutations in LSM11 and RNU7-1, which encode components of the histone messenger RNA–preprocessing complex, cause AGS by loosening the binding of cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS) to nucleosomes, thus enabling cGAS activation and induction of type I interferons.
Patterns of co-occurring and mutually exclusive mutations reveal synergistic interactions among cancer driver genes. A new study functionally confirms these interactions and builds the pairwise relationships into networks of pathway disruption that have better predictive power than specific mutations alone.
In a classical view of carcinogenesis, carcinogens directly cause mutations. In this issue, Riva et al. explore the effects of 20 known or suspected human carcinogens and find discernible mutational signatures for only three of them.
FOXA1 is a key pioneer factor in androgen-receptor activity but has been an elusive drug target. A new study shows that inhibition of the associated cofactor LSD1 modifies the methylation state of FOXA1, thus resulting in chromatin dissociation and tumor inhibition, even in models of treatment-resistant prostate cancer.
How do boundary elements divide chromosomes into domains? A new study uses random genomic insertions to show how small genomic fragments can shape chromatin folding through the interplay of loop extrusion and compartmentalization. Spoiler: context matters.
The role of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is still not fully understood. Two new studies advance understanding of this RNA modification. One shows that m6A modification of nascent messenger RNA promotes transcription by recruiting the histone H3 K9 demethylase KDM3B. Another study identifies genetic variants that affect m6A deposition and human disease.
Binding of RNA to the gene expression regulator Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) has been proposed to antagonize PRC2’s chromatin recruitment. A new study now shows that RNA is in fact critical for correct recruitment of PRC2 at its target genes in human pluripotent stem cells and suggests that interplay of PRC2 and RNA can fine-tune PRC2’s regulatory role.
Genomes are highly organized in space and time. Compartments, topologically associating domains (TADs) and loops are three dimensional (3D) genome features that have been extensively studied. Among these three levels of organization, TADs have sparked the most debate. New microscopy data shed light on how TADs and their leaky borders contribute to gene regulation.
How ‘difficult’ is it for somatic evolution to produce a cell that is capable of leaving the primary tumor and growing in a distant organ? In this issue, Reiter et al. assess genetic diversity across metastatic lesions and identify a tight selective bottleneck preceding distant metastasis.
Pachytene Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are abundant small non-coding RNAs expressed in mammalian germ lines. A new study indicates that, among the diverse pool of piRNA sequences, a small number act as highly selective guides that induce cleavage of coding and non-coding transcripts, thus promoting piRNA generation and regulating gene expression.
TET2 and DNMT3A mutations lead to similar long-term outcomes in blood cancers despite the antagonistic biochemical functions of their encoded proteins. A new study highlights the opposing effects of TET2 and DNMT3A mutations in shaping the early erythroid or myeloid bias of hematopoietic progenitors.
Many normal tissues are populated by clonal expansions that compete for space. Colom et al. now show that mutant clones keep other mutant clones in check by effectively annulling one another’s advantages.
A new study addresses whether transcription of enhancers and the resulting enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) play a role in mediating long-range interactions between enhancers and promoters. Studying the immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh) locus, the authors find that transcription of the enhancers per se is required to establish but not maintain these interactions, and this mechanism may apply to a subset of other enhancer–promoter interactions.
A new study identifies sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD) deficiency as a slowly progressive hereditary motor axonopathy caused by a genetic defect in the second step of the polyol pathway, thus leading to elevated tissue and blood sorbitol. SORD deficiency is the most common recessive cause of neuropathy, for which therapeutic intervention with aldose reductase inhibitors may have potential.
Cancer cells have the extraordinary evolutionary potential to adapt and acquire resistance to most conventional and targeted therapies. In a new study, Lin et al., develop a systematic approach to identify combination therapies that produce cancer traps, in which evading the first drug makes the cancer vulnerable to the second.
Efforts to systematically characterize silencers in animal genomes have been limited. Two studies in this issue of Nature Genetics bring silencers into the spotlight, identifying these elements genome wide in human and mouse cells, and providing insights into their function.
Huntington’s disease is a severe progressive neurological disorder caused by a CAG-repeat expansion in the HTT gene. A small molecule shows therapeutic potential by inducing contraction of these expanded CAG repeats in cell and mouse models of the disease.
