May 2007

Performance-enhancing polymorphisms define an emerging and exciting area of science. In this issue of PLoS Genetics, Mosher et al. identify a variant of the myostatin gene that leads to increased racing performance among whippet dogs (shown here) by increasing muscle mass. This is the first of what will presumably be many genetic associations identified between specific polymorphisms and athletic performance (see Mosher et al., e79).

Image Credit: Photograph by Tyrone C. Spady.

Review

Recent Developments in Yeast Aging

Matt Kaeberlein, Christopher R Burtner, Brian K Kennedy

PLOS Genetics: published May 25, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030084

Research Articles

Identification of the Imprinted KLF14 Transcription Factor Undergoing Human-Specific Accelerated Evolution

Layla Parker-Katiraee, Andrew R Carson, Takahiro Yamada, Philippe Arnaud, Robert Feil, Sayeda N Abu-Amero, Gudrun E Moore, Masahiro Kaneda, George H Perry, Anne C Stone, Charles Lee, Makiko Meguro-Horike, Hiroyuki Sasaki, Keiko Kobayashi, Kazuhiko Nakabayashi, Stephen W Scherer

PLOS Genetics: published May 4, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030065

Rapid Birth–Death Evolution Specific to Xenobiotic Cytochrome P450 Genes in Vertebrates

James H Thomas

PLOS Genetics: published May 11, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030067

Y Chromosome Lineage- and Village-Specific Genes on Chromosomes 1p22 and 6q27 Control Visceral Leishmaniasis in Sudan

E. Nancy Miller, Manal Fadl, Hiba S Mohamed, Abier Elzein, Sarra E Jamieson, Heather J Cordell, Christopher S Peacock, Michaela Fakiola, Madhuri Raju, Eltahir A Khalil, Ahmed Elhassan, Ahmed M Musa, Muntaser E Ibrahim, Jenefer M Blackwell

PLOS Genetics: published May 11, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030071

Regional Variation in the Density of Essential Genes in Mice

Kathryn E Hentges, David D Pollock, Bin Liu, Monica J Justice

PLOS Genetics: published May 4, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030072

A Method to Address Differential Bias in Genotyping in Large-Scale Association Studies

Vincent Plagnol, Jason. D Cooper, John A Todd, David G Clayton

PLOS Genetics: published May 18, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030074

Being Pathogenic, Plastic, and Sexual while Living with a Nearly Minimal Bacterial Genome

Pascal Sirand-Pugnet, Carole Lartigue, Marc Marenda, Daniel Jacob, Aurélien Barré, Valérie Barbe, Chantal Schenowitz, Sophie Mangenot, Arnaud Couloux, Beatrice Segurens, Antoine de Daruvar, Alain Blanchard, Christine Citti

PLOS Genetics: published May 18, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030075

Drosophila SETDB1 Is Required for Chromosome 4 Silencing

Carole Seum, Emanuela Reo, Hongzhuang Peng, Frank J Rauscher III, Pierre Spierer, Séverine Bontron

PLOS Genetics: published May 11, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030076

Genetic and Physical Mapping of DNA Replication Origins in Haloferax volcanii

Cédric Norais, Michelle Hawkins, Amber L Hartman, Jonathan A Eisen, Hannu Myllykallio, Thorsten Allers

PLOS Genetics: published May 18, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030077

p53 Activation by Knockdown Technologies

Mara E Robu, Jon D Larson, Aidas Nasevicius, Soraya Beiraghi, Charles Brenner, Steven A Farber, Stephen C Ekker

PLOS Genetics: published May 25, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030078

A Mutation in the Myostatin Gene Increases Muscle Mass and Enhances Racing Performance in Heterozygote Dogs

Dana S Mosher, Pascale Quignon, Carlos D Bustamante, Nathan B Sutter, Cathryn S Mellersh, Heidi G Parker, Elaine A Ostrander

PLOS Genetics: published May 25, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030079

NFIA Haploinsufficiency Is Associated with a CNS Malformation Syndrome and Urinary Tract Defects

Weining Lu, Fabiola Quintero-Rivera, Yanli Fan, Fowzan S Alkuraya, Diana J Donovan, Qiongchao Xi, Annick Turbe-Doan, Qing-Gang Li, Craig G Campbell, Alan L Shanske, Elliott H Sherr, Ayesha Ahmad, Roxana Peters, Benedict Rilliet, Paloma Parvex, Alexander G Bassuk, David J Harris, Heather Ferguson, Chantal Kelly, Christopher A Walsh, Richard M Gronostajski, Koenraad Devriendt, Anne Higgins, Azra H Ligon, Bradley J Quade, Cynthia C Morton, James F Gusella, Richard L Maas

PLOS Genetics: published May 25, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030080

Allele-Specific Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Studies Show Genetic Influence on Chromatin State in Human Genome

Mitsutaka Kadota, Howard H Yang, Nan Hu, Chaoyu Wang, Ying Hu, Philip R Taylor, Kenneth H Buetow, Maxwell P Lee

PLOS Genetics: published May 18, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030081

Huntingtin Interacting Proteins Are Genetic Modifiers of Neurodegeneration

Linda S Kaltenbach, Eliana Romero, Robert R Becklin, Rakesh Chettier, Russell Bell, Amit Phansalkar, Andrew Strand, Cameron Torcassi, Justin Savage, Anthony Hurlburt, Guang-Ho Cha, Lubna Ukani, Cindy Lou Chepanoske, Yuejun Zhen, Sudhir Sahasrabudhe, James Olson, Cornelia Kurschner, Lisa M Ellerby, John M Peltier, Juan Botas, Robert E Hughes

PLOS Genetics: published May 11, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030082

Zip4/Spo22 Is Required for Class I CO Formation but Not for Synapsis Completion in Arabidopsis thaliana

Liudmila Chelysheva, Ghislaine Gendrot, Daniel Vezon, Marie-Pascale Doutriaux, Raphaël Mercier, Mathilde Grelon

PLOS Genetics: published May 25, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030083

Discovery and Analysis of Evolutionarily Conserved Intronic Splicing Regulatory Elements

Gene W Yeo, Eric L. Van Nostrand, Tiffany Y Liang

PLOS Genetics: published May 25, 2007 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0030085

Cover

Increased racing performance among whippet dogs