Volume 15 Issue 6, June 2014

The complex mechanisms that regulate the X chromosome lead to evolutionary and physiological variability in gene expression between species, the sexes, individuals, developmental stages, tissues and cell types. This Review discusses the causes and consequences of variability in X-linked gene expression.

The impact of various infectious agents on human survival and reproduction over thousands of years has exerted selective pressure on numerous regions of the human genome. This Review describes how such signatures of selection can be detected and integrated with data from complementary approaches, such as genome-wide association studies, to provide biological insights into host–pathogen interactions.

RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) is a major mechanism of transcriptional gene silencing in plants that is mediated through small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and plant-specific RNA polymerases. This Review summarizes our latest understanding of RdDM, including its genomic targets, molecular mechanisms (such as emerging non-canonical pathways) and diverse biological roles.

Data sharing in genetics is essential to ensure research progress. However, concerns about the impact on privacy of data originators have been raised. This Review summarizes privacy breaching strategies and potential mitigation methods for privacy-preserving dissemination of sensitive data, and highlights different cases that are relevant to genetic applications.

Discoveries over the past decade portend a paradigm shift in molecular biology; evidence suggests that RNA is not only functional as a messenger between DNA and protein but also involved in the regulation of genome organization and gene expression. This Timeline article surveys the emergence of the previously unsuspected world of regulatory RNA from a historical perspective.