Population genetics articles within Nature

Featured

• Article | 17 February 2010

  Remarkably ancient balanced polymorphisms in a multi-locus gene network

  Local adaptations are often governed by several interacting genes scattered throughout the genome. Here a novel type of multi–locus genetic variation is described that has been maintained within a species over a vast period of time. A balanced unlinked gene network polymorphism is dissected that involves galactose utilization in a close relative of baker's yeast.

  • Chris Todd Hittinger
  • , Paula Gonçalves
  •  & Antonis Rokas

• Letter | 21 January 2010

  Mutational robustness can facilitate adaptation

  If robustness is the opposite of evolvability, we might expect that a robust population would have difficulty adapting to environmental change; however, some studies have suggested that genetic robustness facilitates adaptation. Here, using a general population genetics model, mutational robustness is found to either impede or facilitate adaptation depending on the population size, the mutation rate and the structure of the fitness landscape.

  • Jeremy A. Draghi
  • , Todd L. Parsons
  •  & Joshua B. Plotkin

• News & Views | 20 January 2010

  Decoding a national treasure

  The giant-panda genome is the first reported de novo assembly of a large mammalian genome achieved using next-generation sequencing methods. The feat reflects a trend towards ever-decreasing genome-sequencing costs.

  • Kim C. Worley
  •  & Richard A. Gibbs

• News | 18 January 2010

  Mystery of the brown giant panda deepens

  Rare sighting of brown-and-white panda sparks conservation debate.

  • Henry Nicholls