In this week's Nature Genetics, an international team of researchers presents an analysis into the genomic influence of cattle on Mongolian yaks. The yak has adapted to high altitude living and, at lower elevations, is commonly hybridized with cattle. Hybrid males are sterile, which prevents the establishment of a stable hybrid population, but not a limited introgression after backcrossing several generations of female hybrids to male yaks. Using high-density SNP genotyping and whole-genome sequencing, the researchers inferred bovine haplotypes in the genomes of 76 Mongolian yaks. They found that the yaks inherited about 1.3 percent of their genome from bovine ancestors after nearly continuous admixture over at least 1,500 years. Introgressed regions were found to be enriched in genes involved in nervous system development and function, and a novel mutation associated with a hornless phenotype found among Mongolian Turano cattle was discovered. GenomeWeb has more on this here.
And in Nature Methods, scientists from Oregon Health and Science University report details on a new method for sequencing thousands of single-cell genomes. Called single-cell combinatorial indexed sequencing, or SCI-seq, the technique enables the simultaneous generation of thousands of low-pass single-cell libraries for detection of somatic copy-number variants. The team used the method to construct libraries for 16,698 single cells from a combination of cultured cell lines, primate frontal cortex tissue, and two human adenocarcinomas, and conducted a detailed assessment of subclonal variation within a pancreatic tumor. GenomeWeb also covers this and a related study here.