Connection Between Epigenome, Selective Mutability, Evolution, and Human Disease
Li, Harris et al., PLoS Genetics
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine and elsewhere propose a "connection between the epigenome, selective mutability, evolution, and human disease" based on the findings of their study on associations of structural mutability with germline DNA methylation and with non-allelic homologous recombination mediated by low-copy repeats. "Combined evidence from four human sperm methylome maps, human genome evolution, structural polymorphisms in the human population, and previous genomic and disease studies consistently points to a strong association of germline hypomethylation and genomic instability," the Baylor-led team writes.
Pretty Pictures and Science, Too
Science and the US National Science Foundation announced the winners of their annual International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge. "The aim is to promote cutting-edge efforts to visualize scientific data, principles, and ideas—skills that are critical for communication among scientists and between scientists and the general public, especially students," writes Colin Norman, Science's news editor.
Bryan William Jones from the University of Utah Moran Eye Center won for his Metabolomic Eye photograph in which he used computational molecular phenotyping to define the different tissues of the eye. In the informational posters and graphics category, Johns Hopkins University's Miguel Angel Aragon-Calvo and Julieta Aguilera and Mark Subbarao from Adler Planetarium won for their representation of the growth of galaxies. TSRI's Graham Johnson, NCMIR's Andrew Noske, and IMB's Bradley Marsh's video of a pancreatic cell won in that category. Finally, the top prize in the games category went to the creators of Foldit, Seth Cooper, David Baker, Zoran Popović, Firas Khatib, and Jeff Flatten at the University of Washington.
The Guardian also picked its favorites, which it highlights here.