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.
Mixing Genomics and Proteomics to Fight Cancer
July 08, 2008
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Kimberly Stegmaier led a study published yesterday in PNAS that uses a "signature-based screening approach" to identify hits in neuroblastoma treatment. Her team used gene expression analysis to screen a small molecule library, and the top hit was all-trans-retinoic acid. They found that by combining this with an HDAC inhibitor increased neuroblastoma differentiation, which is typically abnormal in this pediatric cancer.