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In this article the authors review current knowledge on chromatin architecture and the molecular mechanisms that underlie it. They discuss how three-dimensional (3D) organization of chromatin relates to gene expression, development and disease, and consider its effect on genome evolution.
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are pervasively expressed in eukaryotic genomes, representing the major transcript isoform for many genes. In this article, the authors review sources of experimental and bioinformatic biases that complicate the accurate discovery of circRNAs and discuss statistical approaches used by published algorithms to address these biases.
Formal representations of Waddington's epigenetic landscape represent cell fate decisions as smooth, continuous events in which cells follow predetermined trajectories. Here, the authors provide an alternative interpretation and posit that fate decisions are discontinuous, stochastic events within cell lineages.
Mutation is the source of genetic diversity on which natural selection acts, therefore understanding the rates of mutations is crucial for understanding evolutionary trajectories. In this Opinion article, the authors discuss how emerging experimental mutation-rate data from genome-wide sequencing studies, combined with population-genetic theory, can provide unifying explanations for the diversity in mutation rates between species and across genomic locations.
