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Population structure and inbreeding from pedigree analysis ofpurebred dogs, pp. 593–601

Federico C. F. Calboli, Jeff Sampson, Neale Fretwell and DavidJ. Balding

Dogs are of increasing interest as models for human diseases.The choice of breeds for such studies should be informed bya knowledge of factors such as inbreeding, genetic diversity,and population structure. Ten breeds were analyzed in pedigreesgoing back eight generations. Extremely inbred dogs were foundin each breed except the greyhound, and inbreeding effectivepopulation sizes were between 40 and 80 for all but 2 breeds.We introduce a novel index for measuring population structuredirectly from pedigrees and use it to identify subpopulationsin several breeds. As well as informing the design of caninepopulation genetics studies, our results have implications forbreeding practices to enhance canine welfare.

Mechanisms of Rad52-independent spontaneous and UV-induced mitoticrecombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, pp. 199–211

Eric Coïc, Taya Feldman, Allison S. Landman and James E.Haber

In budding yeast, deletion of RAD52 eliminates nearly all homologousrecombination, but mammalian cells are largely unaffected bya similar deletion. The authors report that there are two distinctRAD52-independent pathways in budding yeast. Spontaneous RAD52-independentevents are characterized by chromosome loss associated withcrossing over. UV-induced RAD52-independent events more resemblewild-type events with most outcomes being noncrossover geneconversions.

Caenorhabditis elegans genes required for the engulfment ofapoptotic corpses function in the cytotoxic cell deaths inducedby mutations in lin-24 and lin-33, pp. 403–417

Brendan D. Galvin, Saechin Kim and H. Robert Horvitz

Two types of cell death have been studied extensively in Caenorhabditiselegans, programmed cell death and necrosis. This article reportsthat mutants in either lin-24 or lin-33 can cause the nonapoptoticdeath of specific cells during development. One of these genesencodes a protein with a domain similar to one found in bacterialtoxins, suggesting a possible mechanism for the observed cytotoxicity.The authors also report that genes that function in the engulfmentof corpses from programmed cell death promote the cell deathcaused by mutations in these two genes.

A new purple fluorescent color marker for genetic studies inSaccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans, pp. 705–710

Sabine Keppler-Ross, Christine Noffz and Neta Dean

The ability to visualize cellular events by linking them tocolor or fluorescence changes has been an invaluable tool forbiology. The authors describe a novel plasmid-borne color markerwhose expression in yeast leads to purple colored cells thatare also brightly fluorescent. This dominant marker providesa useful tool for rapidly screening plasmid maintenance usinga visual or fluorescence assay in both Saccharomyces cerevisiaeand Candida albicans.

Caenorhabditis elegans num-1 negatively regulates endocyticrecycling, pp. 375–387

Lars Nilsson, Barbara Conradt, Anne-Françoise Ruaud,Carlos Chih-Hsiung Chen, Julia Hatzold, Jean-Louis Bessereau,Barth D. Grant and Simon Tuck

Numb protein exists throughout the animal kingdom and has beenimplicated in endocytic trafficking, but in which aspect ofendocytosis and of what ligands? Here the authors report that,surprisingly, changes in the expression of num-1 in Caenorhabditiselegans caused defects in polarized epithelial cells remarkablysimilar to those caused by mutations in rme-1, a positive regulatorof endocytic recycling. NUM-1 protein is restricted to the baso-lateralmembrane. Their findings suggest that Numb does not solely actto promote the endocytic uptake of specific cargo moleculesin restricted tissues, but instead has a central role in regulatingrecycling.

Linkage disequilibrium under genetic hitchhiking in finite populations,pp. 527–537

P. Pfaffelhuber, A. Lehnert and W. Stephan

Patterns of linkage disequilibrium can serve as a tool to inferselection. For the model of genetic hitchhiking this articledescribes a star-like approximation for the joint genealogyof two neutral loci linked to the selected one, which is correctfor large selection coefficients. The analysis then derivesexplicit expressions for standardized linkage disequilibriumand uses simulations to show that the specific pattern of linkagedisequilibrium is quickly destroyed after the end of the selectedsweep.

On the "NPD ratio" as a test for crossover interference, pp.701–704

Franklin W. Stahl

The measurement of genetic interference is of increasing importanceto geneticists studying the meiotic process. Here the authorshows that the "NPD ratio," widely used by yeast geneticiststo calculate interference, is of limited applicability and isprone to falsely indicating significant crossover interferencein a chi-square test. A simple, better chi-square test for interferencein two factor crosses is described.

Genomic analysis of adaptive differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster,pp. 455–473

Thomas L. Turner, Mia T. Levine, Melissa L. Eckert and DavidJ. Begun

When natural selection varies geographically, different allelesmay be favored in different environments. This article performeda genomewide scan for geographical patterns of allele-frequencydifference in Drosophila melanogaster by hybridizing DNA fromtemperate and subtropical populations to Affymetrix tiling arrays.The dense genomic sampling of variants and low level of linkagedisequilibrium enabled identification of many small, differentiatedregions. Many groups of related genes (involved in synapticfunction, olfaction, and behavior) are unexpectedly differentiatedin parallel in the United States and Australia, supporting theidea that they are influenced by a spatially varying selection.

High rates of "unselected" aneuploidy and chromosome rearrangementsin tel1 mec1 haploid yeast strains, pp. 237–247

Michael Vernon, Kirill Lobachev and Thomas D. Petes

The Tel1 and Mec1 proteins of yeast have roles in DNA damagerepair and in telomere length regulation. Here the authors demonstratethat strains lacking both of these proteins have very high ratesof chromosome rearrangements. Most of these rearrangements reflecthomologous recombination between dispersed retrotransposons(Ty or ${delta}$ -repeats), and these chromosome aberrations nonrandomlyinvolved chromosome III.

Genome integrity is regulated by the Caenorhabditis elegansRad51D homolog rfs-1, pp. 249–262

Judith L. Yanowitz

Replication of telomeres is a challenge for cells because theyare highly repetitive. This article demonstrates that the rfs-1gene, which functions in the repair of stalled replication forks,is required for telomere maintenance and appears to act independentlyof the telomerase complex. Mutants in rfs-1 display a germ-linephenotype characterized by progressive sterility and acquisitionof altered karyotypes typical of telomere dysfunction mutants.However, unlike telomerase mutants, rfs-1 mutants show bothlengthening and shortening of telomeres suggesting that rfs-1acts in a fundamentally different manner to maintain these repeats.

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