Genetic mapping articles within Nature

Featured

  • Outlook |

    A subterranean species that seems to be cancer-proof is providing promising clues on how we might prevent the disease in humans.

    • Sarah Deweerdt
  • Letter |

    As part of the modENCODE initiative, which aims to characterize functional DNA elements in D. melanogaster and C. elegans, this study created a map of the regulatory part of the fruitfly genome. On the basis of the developmental dynamics of chromatin modifications, polymerase and transcription factor occupancy this work defines a vast array of putative regulatory elements, such as enhancers, promoters, insulators and silencers. This resource represents the first attempt at a comprehensive annotation of cis-regulatory elements in a metazoan genome.

    • Nicolas Nègre
    • , Christopher D. Brown
    •  & Kevin P. White
  • Article |

    Harnessing information from whole genome sequencing in 185 individuals, this study generates a high-resolution map of copy number variants. Nucleotide resolution of the map facilitates analysis of structural variant distribution and identification of the mechanisms of their origin. The study provides a resource for sequence-based association studies.

    • Ryan E. Mills
    • , Klaudia Walter
    •  & Jan O. Korbel
  • Letter |

    Birds and mammals have distinct sex chromosomes: in birds, males are ZZ and females ZW; in mammals, males are XY and females XX. By sequencing the chicken Z chromosome and comparing it with the human X chromosome, these authors overturn the currently held view that these chromosomes have diverged little from their autosomal progenitors. The Z and X chromosomes seem to have followed convergent evolutionary trajectories, despite evolving with opposite systems of heterogamety.

    • Daniel W. Bellott
    • , Helen Skaletsky
    •  & David C. Page