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Tissue-specific expression of mRNA isoforms and interindividual differences in isoform usage can now be quantitated by genome-wide assays, both by custom microarray and by next-generation sequencing.
Recent progress in mapping quantitative growth traits (QTLs) in rice yields insights into mechanisms of plant growth, hints at genomic signatures of the domestication process and promotes the prospect of agricultural improvement via introgression of beneficial variants.
Procedures for genotyping structural variants with SNP detection arrays now permit many of the larger and more common polymorphisms to be incorporated into association studies.
At this year's quinquennial International Congress of Genetics, human genetics provided only a fascinating minority of the content of this conference dedicated to illuminating fundamental biological systems and their evolution.
In association with the Wellcome Trust, we are pleased to announce the second Genomics of Common Diseases conference to be held September 6–9, 2008, in Cambridge, MA, USA.
Findings of an excess of de novo structural variants in cases of autism and schizophrenia have raised hopes that neuropsychiatric conditions may yet prove genetically tractable. Past experience suggests that success in finding causative variants will require exceptional rigor and caution.
The usefulness of the rat as a genetic model of complex traits and disease is increasing, with the development of a number of genome-wide resources enabling high-resolution genetic analysis. This special focus on rat genetics surveys the landscape and highlights the range of discoveries that are now possible.
Despite a reputation for impenetrable bureaucracy, the European Union has in place two relatively elegant funding mechanisms for the critical transitions of a scientist's career: for the PhD moving into postdoctoral research, and for outstanding researchers launching their first independent research programs.
Explaining research through playful analogies can enliven discussion with nonspecialists. The limits of these analogies can be used to explore the limits of explanatory scope intrinsic to scientific hypotheses.
Three genome-wide association studies of prostate cancer deliver a mix of newly identified associations, tripling the available number of candidate genes, biomarkers and variants potentially useful in risk prediction.
Companies now provide individuals with their own genotypes and associated risks extrapolated from association studies. The best outcomes would be to convert patients into active investigators and navigators of their own health, to make genetics the foundation of medical education and to expand the scope of genetic counseling as a profession.
The journal has now begun to commission reviews on variation at selected loci as a way to demonstrate that microattribution can produce the required incentive for high-quality community annotation of the human genome.
