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Meiosis reveals the early steps in the evolution of a neo-XY sex chromosome pair in the African pygmy mouse Mus minutoides

November 12, 2020

Meiosis reveals the early steps in the evolution of a neo-XY sex chromosome pair in the African pygmy mouse Mus minutoides

The early stages of sex chromosome evolution are notoriously difficult to study. The meiotic behavior of neo-sex chromosomes reveals how some of the first steps of this evolution can be achieved and how they may even depend on the special requirements of meiosis. The image shows a diplotene spermatocyte of the African pygmy mouse Mus minutoides immunolabeled for protein SYCP3 (green), centromeres (pink) and histone γH2AX (blue).

Image credit: Ana Gil-Fernández and Jesús Page

Topic Pages

Read the full Collection of Topic Pages published in PLOS Genetics.

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12/28/2020

Research Article

Physiological and genetic convergence supports hypoxia resistance in high-altitude songbirds

Xiong et al. find that highland native songbirds (snowfinches) have greater body and muscle mass with an increase in insulin sensitivity and aerobic metabolism comparing to lowland songbirds (tree sparrows). Three genes with high genetic divergence between altitudinal tree sparrows have convergent nonsynonymous substitutions in snow finches and are related to hypoxia.

Image credit: Steve Childs

Physiological and genetic convergence supports hypoxia resistance in high-altitude songbirds

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Current Issue

Current Issue December 2020

12/31/2020

Research Article

Genomic and transcriptomic landscape of conjunctival melanoma

Cisarova and colleagues analyze tumor gene expression to reveal similarities between conjunctival melanoma and cutaneous melanoma, some of which could be used as prognostic factors or as indicators of a patients’ response to therapy. They also identify frequent somatic mutations in ACSS3, a gene not yet associated with either cancer.

Image credit: Cisarova et al.

Genomic and transcriptomic landscape of conjunctival melanoma

12/28/2020

Research Article

Super-resolution visualization of distinct stalled and broken replication fork structures

Whelan and colleagues develop and apply new assays for labelling and visualizing damaged replication forks using super-resolution microscopy. They further demonstrate that these assays are widely applicable to DNA damage research and offer a new approach to mapping the spatiotemporal repair of individual damage events inside cells.

Image credit: Whelan et al.

Super-resolution visualization of distinct stalled and broken replication fork structures

01/11/2021

Research Article

Differential role of cytosolic Hsp70s in longevity assurance and protein quality control

In this article, Andersson and colleagues investigate three closely related Hsp70 proteins in yeast; Ssa1, 2 and 4, in an effort to describe the functional difference of Ssa4 compared to Ssa1 and 2 and to answer the question: What types of cellular stress protection are necessary to reach a normal lifespan? 

Differential role of cytosolic Hsp70s in longevity assurance and protein quality control

Image credit: Rebecca Andersson

12/28/2020

Research Article

Mouse mutant phenotyping at scale reveals novel genes controlling bone mineral density

Swan et al aimed to identify osteoporosis-related genes using bone mineral density measures obtained from a large pool of mutant mice genetically modified for deletion of individual genes. 3,823 knockout mice were generated and phenotyped, identifying 200 genes which regulated bone mineral density.

Mouse mutant phenotyping at scale reveals novel genes controlling bone mineral density

Image credit: International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium

11/05/2020

Editorial

Kingdom Come

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new Plant Genetics section, led by the inaugural Senior Editors Claudia Köhler and Li-Jia Qu.

Kingdom Come

Image credit: Tanja Niggendijker, Wikimedia Commons; Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons

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