In this week's Science, a team led by scientists from North Carolina State University report data suggesting that, in fruit flies, parents genetically diversify their offspring to boost their chances of survival against parasites. They exposed fruit flies that had been bred with an identifiable mutation with bacteria and then allowed them to mate. The investigators discovered a higher proportion of recombinant offspring from infected insects than those from a control group. They noted that the recombination was apparent before the flies' eggs were fully developed and concluded that it was due to transmission distortion. Additionally, the team observed a similar increase in recombinant offspring in flies that were infected with a parasite as larvae and before they developed ovaries, and found it was sustained across development.
And in Science Translational Medicine, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, discuss how advances in biological, physical, engineering, computer, and health sciences are preparing the stage for "a transformative leap" to an era of personalized healthcare. In their editorial, the scientists see biomedicine as sitting at an inflection point, with the progress made in a variety of different fields poised to come together and support a technological boom defined by precision medicine.