Genetics Society of America’s GENETICS Journal Highlights for February 2013

Newswise — Bethesda, MD—February 8, 2013 – Listed below are the selected highlights for the February 2013 issue of the Genetics Society of America’s journal, GENETICS. The February issue is available online at www.genetics.org/content/current. Please credit GENETICS, Vol. 193, February 2013, Copyright © 2013.

Please feel free to forward to colleagues who may be interested in these articles on population and evolutionary genetics; gene expression; genome and systems biology; and methods, technology and resources.

ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS

Population and Evolutionary GeneticsPatterns of transcriptome divergence in the male accessory gland of two closely related species of field crickets, pp. 501–513Jose A. Andrés, Erica L. Larson, Steven M. Bogdanowicz, and Richard G. HarrisonWhat kinds of genetic changes are responsible for the origin of species? What forces drive evolution of “speciation genes”? Answers to these fundamental questions may be found by examining patterns of genomic differentiation between closely related species. The authors have compared transcriptomes of two field crickets to identify candidate gene regions that contribute to reproductive isolation and to assess the role of selection in divergence of genes encoding seminal fluid proteins.

Methods, Technology and ResourcesCaptured segment exchange: A strategy for custom engineering large genomic regions in Drosophila melanogaster, pp. 421–430Jack R. Bateman, Michael F. Palopoli, Sarah T. Dale, Jennifer E. Stauffer, Anita L. Shah, Justine E. Johnson, Conor W. Walsh, Hanna Flaten ,and Christine M. ParsonsandLong-range targeted manipulation of the Drosophila genome by site-specific integration and recombinational resolution, pp. 411–419Natalia Wesolowska and Yikang S. Rong

This issue of GENETICS features two articles that describe significant improvements in the Drosophila genetic toolbox (see Commentary by Crown and Sekelsky). Wesolowska and Rong describe an approach for targeted manipulation of the genome that promises to render all Drosophila genes amenable to systematic targeted mutagenesis. Bateman et al. offer a novel approach for swapping large segments of the genome with engineered DNA, permitting custom alterations to any genomic region. And last month Staller and Perrimon and colleagues presented a powerful, simple method for depleting gene function in early embryos with short hairpin RNAs.

Population and Evolutionary GeneticsEvolutionary rate covariation in meiotic proteins results from fluctuating evolutionary pressure in yeasts and mammals, pp. 529–538Nathan L. Clark, Eric Alani, and Charles F. AquadroGenes leave records of their relationships in their DNA: functionally related genes tend to experience parallel changes in evolutionary rate. What causes this coevolutionary signature? These authors suggest that such a signature in meiotic genes results from a reduction in selective constraint after certain species switched to clonal reproduction. Similar changes in coevolutionary signatures across the genome can be exploited to uncover functional relationships.

Population and Evolutionary GeneticsThe effect of nonindependent mate pairing on the effective population size, pp. 545–556Ben J. Evans and Brian CharlesworthThis study illuminates how real-world social systems impinge on genome evolution. The effect of overlapping generations on effective population size is generally inferred by assuming that mate pairing occurs independently each breeding season—an assumption violated by many species, including humans. Evans and Charlesworth show that nonindependent mate pairing has no effect if all adults mate pair each breeding season, a small effect if females store sperm, and a large effect with a harem social system.

Population and Evolutionary GeneticsThe relationship between F_ST and the frequency of the most frequent allele, pp. 515–528Mattias Jakobsson, Michael D. Edge, and Noah A. RosenbergF_ST has long been used as a summary of genetic differentiation among groups, but remarkably, its relationship to locus allele frequencies has been unclear. This article provides a conceptual basis for understanding the dependence of F_ST on allele frequencies and genetic diversity. It shows that many unusual properties of F_ST, including its relatively low values in high-diversity human populations in Africa, derive from the intrinsic mathematical dependence of F_ST on features of allele frequency distributions. Gene ExpressionMinimal effect of gene clustering on expression in Escherichia coli, pp. 453–466Lusha W. Liang, Razika Hussein, Dena H. S. Block, and Han N. LimGenes that interact or function together are often clustered in bacterial genomes. Does this affect their expression? Surprisingly, no: the authors found that gene clustering in Escherichia coli has limited impact on levels or correlation of expression, or on stochastic fluctuations in expression. Their results rule out gene clustering as a general modulator of gene expression.Genome and Systems BiologyThe relationship between long-range chromatin occupancy and polymerization of the Drosophila ETS family transcriptional repressor Yan, pp. 633–649Jemma L. Webber, Jie Zhang, Lauren Cote, Pavithra Vivekanand, Xiaochun Ni, Jie Zhou, Nicolas Nègre, Richard W. Carthew, Kevin P. White, and Ilaria RebaySpreading of repressive complexes along chromatin has been proposed to be driven by the polymerization of transcriptional repressors, but this study of the Drosophila repressor Yan suggests oligomerization does not promote chromatin spreading. These results challenge the accepted model of polymerization-mediated chromatin spreading.

This Month’s PerspectivesThe genetics of canine skull shape variation, pp. 317–325Jeffrey J. Schoenebeck and Elaine A. OstranderThe dog as a model organism is young in human years, but insights gleaned in the eight years since its genome’s public debut have made it a prodigy. This species’ symbiosis with man makes it uniquely suited to address questions of the genetic basis of domestication, evolution, morphology, and disease. It is clear that the pertinence of answers awaiting canine geneticists extends beyond the dog.

ABOUT GENETICS: Since 1916, GENETICS (www.genetics.org/) has covered high quality, original research on a range of topics bearing on inheritance, including population and evolutionary genetics, complex traits, developmental and behavioral genetics, cellular genetics, gene expression, genome integrity and transmission, and genome and systems biology. GENETICS, a peer-reviewed, peer-edited journal of the Genetics Society of America is one of the world's most cited journals in genetics and heredity.

ABOUT GSA: Founded in 1931, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) is the professional membership organization for scientific researchers, educators, bioengineers, bioinformaticians and others interested in the field of genetics. Its nearly 5,000 members work to advance knowledge in the basic mechanisms of inheritance, from the molecular to the population level. GSA is dedicated to promoting research in genetics and to facilitating communication among geneticists worldwide through its conferences, including the biennial conference on Model Organisms to Human Biology, an interdisciplinary meeting on current and cutting edge topics in genetics research, as well as annual and biennial meetings that focus on the genetics of particular organisms, including C. elegans, Drosophila, fungi, mice, yeast, and zebrafish. GSA publishes GENETICS, a leading journal in the field and an online, open-access journal, G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics. For more information about GSA, please visit www.genetics-gsa.org. Also follow GSA on Facebook at facebook.com/GeneticsGSA and on Twitter @GeneticsGSA.

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