Chromosome-Scale Selective Sweeps and Genomic Diversity in C. elegans
Andersen, Gerke et al., Nature Genetics
Researchers at Princeton University and elsewhere discuss the effects of chromosome-scale selective sweeps on genomic diversity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Taking a high-throughput selective sequencing approach on a collection of 200 wild C. elegans strains, the team found that the nematode's "genome variation is dominated by a set of commonly shared haplotypes on four of its six chromosomes, each spanning many megabases." Further, the team reports on its population genetic modeling experiments, which showed that "this pattern was generated by chromosome-scale selective sweeps that have reduced variation worldwide; at least one of these sweeps probably occurred in the last few hundred years," it writes.
"All the Same"
February 08, 2010
Coming to televisions near you (or online) this week is a show from Harvard's Henry Louis Gates, Jr. In Faces of America, Gates will use genealogy and genetic tools to look into the family histories of 12 Americans, including Stephen Colbert, Yo-Yo Ma, and Meryl Streep. The series kicks off this Wednesday on PBS at 8 Eastern and will be available on line the following day. "[We] used DNA analysis to look for "deep cousins" — common ancestors among our guests — and we found genetic connections between eleven of our twelve guests. I found that despite all our apparent differences in terms of culture and history, we are all the same," Gates says in a PBS blog post.
Anyone who expects great
Anyone who expects great genetic insights from Skippy Gates is a fool.