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Khabre desk
Recent reporting, analysis and explainers from the Genetics desk.
science
A bioRxiv preprint reports XXY and XXYY females at frequencies as high as 88% in some strains of four Drosophila species. The researchers link the pattern to a bias in the chromosome types carried by eggs.
science
A bioRxiv preprint reports that canary breeds selected for song differ from other breeds in neural development, song-related brain regions and auditory sensitivity. Genome-wide findings point to many genes contributing to song divergence, including an ADGRV1 variant associated with singing and hearing traits.
science
A bioRxiv preprint reports that wheat resistance to four soil-borne pathogens is shaped by many genetic factors, with some genomic regions shared across diseases. The authors say the patterns also depend on pathogen, environment and local genetic context.
science
An Anthropic-authored bioRxiv preprint reports that Claude Code agents surveyed 1.9 billion protein clusters and identified a family of phage reverse transcriptases associated with tandem DNA repeats. The researchers also report that the repeat arrays are highly expressed during Staphylococcus phage infection.
science
Nature has retracted a 2014 study that reported miRNAs and the NMD pathway regulate ribosomal frameshifting in CCR5 mRNA. The journal says a cryptic splice site created artefactual reporter variants, and follow-up assays found no detectable frameshifting with a revised reporter.
science
A bioRxiv preprint reports that mitochondrial DNA mutations arising during mice’s first two months were sufficient to drive age-related pathologies. The authors also found that tissue-specific selection and mitochondrial fusion influenced the mutations’ later fate.
science
A bioRxiv preprint reports that rare and common STARD9 variants are associated with different lipid disorders and opposite changes in lysosome positioning. The authors connect those differences to cholesterol handling in cells and, in knockout mice, to intestinal cholesterol absorption.
science
A study of human and great-ape cartilage found roughly threefold lower glycosaminoglycan levels in humans and traced this difference to widespread changes in skeletal gene regulation. The authors suggest the shift may have influenced human skeletal traits and vulnerability to degenerative disease.
science
A bioRxiv preprint reports that DNA recovered from museum hair samples attributed to Thomas Jefferson supports his direct paternity of children descended from Sally Hemings. The study compares inherited DNA shared with known and putative descendants and remains a preprint.
science
A bioRxiv preprint tracking seven Burkholderia multivorans strains from chronic infections in eight cystic fibrosis patients found that the emergence of a dominant bacterial lineage was associated with faster lung-function decline. The study also identified repeated evolutionary changes affecting bacterial functions linked to persistence in the airways.
science
A bioRxiv preprint using data from 1,494 donors finds that many single-cell gene-expression studies may lack sufficient statistical power to detect small effects. Cell counts, gene-expression levels and sequencing depth strongly influenced which findings were detected and reproduced.
science
A chromosome-level reference genome and resequencing data from 80 Saimaa ringed seals show extremely limited Y-chromosomal diversity compared with other ringed seals. The bioRxiv preprint estimates that the population retains about 1% of the broader Y-chromosomal diversity and 5% of mitochondrial diversity.
science
The European Union has changed how gene-edited crops are regulated, dividing them into NGT-1 and NGT-2 categories. The framework could ease adoption of CRISPR-based crop improvements, but limits on the number and size of edits may restrict more complex traits.
science
A bioRxiv preprint reports that blood DNA methylation patterns vary across development, chronic disease and aging in humans and other mammals. The researchers also describe epigenetic clocks designed to predict expected mortality across species and tissues.
science
A KU Leuven-led bioRxiv preprint describes a modular click-chemistry method for attaching fluorophores and DNA to CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoproteins without tying the engineering process to how the complex is assembled. In vitro experiments reported by the authors found that modifying an already formed complex provided two-fold greater accessibility of attached DNA.