Genetics articles from across Nature Portfolio

Genetics is the branch of science concerned with genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms. It seeks to understand the process of trait inheritance from parents to offspring, including the molecular structure and function of genes, gene behaviour in the context of a cell or organism (e.g. dominance and epigenetics), gene distribution, and variation and change in populations.

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  • News & Views |

    There is debate about how epigenetic marks, such as methyl groups on DNA, can be passed down from parent to offspring. A mouse model involving targeted DNA methylation will better equip researchers to study this process.

    • Serge McGraw
    •  & Sarah Kimmins
    Nature

  • News & Views |

    Unlike other North Pacific killer whales, Southern Resident killer whales have failed to thrive despite decades of conservation. Genomics combined with long-term observational records reveal inbreeding depression as a compelling explanation.

    • Jacqueline A. Robinson
    Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1-2

  • News & Views |

    Using a systems-level, multi-omics approach, we reveal several genes associated with arachnoid cysts and identify four phenotypic subtypes of arachnoid cysts, the severity of which correlates with the presence of protein-damaging de novo variants. All candidate genes are expressed in the developing brain and encode molecules implicated in chromatin modification or transcriptional regulation.

    Nature Medicine, 1-2

  • News & Views |

    Sequences of almost 800 wheat genomes have retraced the history of wheat: when and where it was domesticated, how cultivation spread from its Middle Eastern centre of origin and how the genome adapted to selective pressures in new agricultural habitats, not least thanks to its ability to take up genes from wild cousins.

    • Jia-Wu Feng
    •  & Martin Mascher
    Nature Plants 9, 377-378
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