genetics & genomics

The identification of the transcription factors that elicit oocyte growth will aid reproductive biology research and might help women with fertility issues, scientists say.  

Differences in the expression of genes associated with antiviral immunity and lung inflammation may contribute to a more serious COVID-19 infection.

Over centuries of cultivating Saccharomyces cerevisiae to make dough, bakers have put selective pressure on the species, causing it to diverge into two distinct groups, according to the authors.

It’s not clear why the patients with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, a mitochondrial disorder that causes blindness, also experienced the modest benefits in their untreated eye.

The gastrointestinal tracts of people with major depressive disorder harbor a signature composition of viruses, bacteria, and their metabolic products, according to the most comprehensive genomic and metabolomic analysis in depression to date.

Researchers repaired what is otherwise irreversible damage in the animals’ ocular neurons, by activating transcription factors ordinarily used to generate induced pluripotent stem cells.

The African Ancestry Neuroscience Research Initiative plans to boost inclusion in genomic studies and support a more diverse generation of neuroscientists.

A pathway involved in the adaptive immune system, a relative newcomer in the world of pathogen defense, may have a more ancient role in protecting cells from invading viruses.

The so-called 614G mutation in the viral spike protein does not appear to cause more severe cases of COVID-19, but multiple studies indicate that it could be more contagious.

Weill Cornell Medicine geneticist Christopher Mason speaks with The Scientist about a bolus of new work on the physiological, cellular, and molecular effects of leaving Earth.

Thomas Stoeger of Northwestern University has previously studied scientists’ limited focus on certain genes. In a new study, he shows how these same behaviors extend into the science of COVID-19.

A study explains how Zika was present among mosquitoes in Africa for decades without causing the harm to human health seen outside the continent in recent years.

Rather than introducing small chunks of DNA as other viruses do, some giant viruses can contribute more than 1 million base pairs to a host’s genome, broadening the ways in which viruses may shape eukaryote evolution.

Whole genome sequencing of the virus infecting the farm animals showed that it spread from the workers to the mink and back, indicating that an animal could serve as a viral reservoir.

Gamze Gursoy and Mark Gerstein of Yale Medical School have developed a strategy for stripping identifying variants from functional genomic data, balancing privacy with utility.

Enhancers, short regions of DNA that direct gene expression, of species separated by 700 million years of evolution worked interchangeably, according to a new study.

Government authorities say because the animals are good hosts of the novel coronavirus, and this new viral variant could undermine vaccine efforts against COVID-19, they are destroying the nation's entire stock of mink.

A “larger than life personality,” Amon devoted her career to studying the cell cycle and aneuploidy. Her research has shaped the field of cancer biology.

The same toxin targets different receptors in prey and conspecifics to deliver either a lethal or non-lethal blow.