November 2013

During Drosophila cellularization, nuclei of the syncytial embryo are packaged into individual cells to generate an epithelial sheet. In this segmented confocal image, membrane furrows (green) divide nuclei (purple) into cells. Failed cellularization results in multinucleation (orange). We identified two new members of the Vinculin/α-Catenin Superfamily that work together to promote robust cellularization. Spt and Sry-α share redundant actin-regulating activity. Maternal Spt is sufficient for reliable cellularization at optimal conditions. However, both maternal Spt and zygotic Sry-α are required when conditions deviate from optimal. In this way, the maternal-to-zygotic transition ensures the robustness of cellularization via the actin cytoskeleton. See Zheng et al.

Image Credit: Liuliu Zheng, Leonardo A. Sepúlveda, and Anna Marie Sokac.

Perspective

Retrotransposon Silencing During Embryogenesis: Dicer Cuts in LINE

Geoffrey J. Faulkner

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003944

Research Articles

Loss of DNMT1o Disrupts Imprinted X Chromosome Inactivation and Accentuates Placental Defects in Females

Serge McGraw, Christopher C. Oakes, Josée Martel, M. Cecilia Cirio, Pauline de Zeeuw, Winifred Mak, Christoph Plass, Marisa S. Bartolomei, J. Richard Chaillet, Jacquetta M. Trasler

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003873

Parallel Evolution of Chordate Cis-Regulatory Code for Development

Laura Doglio, Debbie K. Goode, Maria C. Pelleri, Stefan Pauls, Flavia Frabetti, Sebastian M. Shimeld, Tanya Vavouri, Greg Elgar

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003904

Fine-Mapping the Genetic Association of the Major Histocompatibility Complex in Multiple Sclerosis: HLA and Non-HLA Effects

Nikolaos A. Patsopoulos, Lisa F. Barcellos, Rogier Q. Hintzen, Catherine Schaefer, Cornelia M. van Duijn, Janelle A. Noble, Towfique Raj, IMSGC, ANZgene, Pierre-Antoine Gourraud, Barbara E. Stranger, Jorge Oksenberg, Tomas Olsson, Bruce V. Taylor, Stephen Sawcer, David A. Hafler, Mary Carrington, Philip L. De Jager, Paul I. W. de Bakker

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003926

MYB97, MYB101 and MYB120 Function as Male Factors That Control Pollen Tube-Synergid Interaction in Arabidopsis thaliana Fertilization

Yan Liang, Ze-Min Tan, Lei Zhu, Qian-Kun Niu, Jing-Jing Zhou, Meng Li, Li-Qun Chen, Xue-Qin Zhang, De Ye

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003933

Pathways-Driven Sparse Regression Identifies Pathways and Genes Associated with High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol in Two Asian Cohorts

Matt Silver, Peng Chen, Ruoying Li, Ching-Yu Cheng, Tien-Yin Wong, E-Shyong Tai, Yik-Ying Teo, Giovanni Montana

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003939

Ribosome Synthesis and MAPK Activity Modulate Ionizing Radiation-Induced Germ Cell Apoptosis in Caenorhabditis elegans

Ralf Eberhard, Lilli Stergiou, E. Randal Hofmann, Jen Hofmann, Simon Haenni, Youjin Teo, André Furger, Michael O. Hengartner

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003943

DUX4 Binding to Retroelements Creates Promoters That Are Active in FSHD Muscle and Testis

Janet M. Young, Jennifer L. Whiddon, Zizhen Yao, Bhavatharini Kasinathan, Lauren Snider, Linda N. Geng, Judit Balog, Rabi Tawil, Silvère M. van der Maarel, Stephen J. Tapscott

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003947

Deletion of the Murine Cytochrome P450 Cyp2j Locus by Fused BAC-Mediated Recombination Identifies a Role for Cyp2j in the Pulmonary Vascular Response to Hypoxia

Guo Ling Zhou, Arkadi Beloiartsev, Binglan Yu, David M. Baron, Weihua Zhou, Rasma Niedra, Naifang Lu, Laurel T. Tainsh, Warren M. Zapol, Brian Seed, Kenneth D. Bloch

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003950

Deletion of an X-Inactivation Boundary Disrupts Adjacent Gene Silencing

Lindsay M. Horvath, Nan Li, Laura Carrel

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003952

MYB10 and MYB72 Are Required for Growth under Iron-Limiting Conditions

Christine M. Palmer, Maria N. Hindt, Holger Schmidt, Stephan Clemens, Mary Lou Guerinot

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003953

Genetic and Functional Studies Implicate Synaptic Overgrowth and Ring Gland cAMP/PKA Signaling Defects in the Drosophila melanogaster Neurofibromatosis-1 Growth Deficiency

James A. Walker, Jean Y. Gouzi, Jennifer B. Long, Sidong Huang, Robert C. Maher, Hongjing Xia, Kheyal Khalil, Arjun Ray, David Van Vactor, René Bernards, André Bernards

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003958

Translation Initiation Factors eIF3 and HCR1 Control Translation Termination and Stop Codon Read-Through in Yeast Cells

Petra Beznosková, Lucie Cuchalová, Susan Wagner, Christopher J. Shoemaker, Stanislava Gunišová, Tobias von der Haar, Leoš Shivaya Valášek

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003962

Roles of XRCC2, RAD51B and RAD51D in RAD51-Independent SSA Recombination

Heïdi Serra, Olivier Da Ines, Fabienne Degroote, Maria E. Gallego, Charles I. White

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003971

Whole Genome, Whole Population Sequencing Reveals That Loss of Signaling Networks Is the Major Adaptive Strategy in a Constant Environment

Daniel J. Kvitek, Gavin Sherlock

PLOS Genetics: published November 21, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003972

Activin-Like Kinase 2 Functions in Peri-implantation Uterine Signaling in Mice and Humans

Caterina Clementi, Swamy K. Tripurani, Michael J. Large, Mark A. Edson, Chad J. Creighton, Shannon M. Hawkins, Ertug Kovanci, Vesa Kaartinen, John P. Lydon, Stephanie A. Pangas, Francesco J. DeMayo, Martin M. Matzuk

PLOS Genetics: published November 14, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003863

Genomic Mechanisms Accounting for the Adaptation to Parasitism in Nematode-Trapping Fungi

Tejashwari Meerupati, Karl-Magnus Andersson, Eva Friman, Dharmendra Kumar, Anders Tunlid, Dag Ahrén

PLOS Genetics: published November 14, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003909

Recruitment of TREX to the Transcription Machinery by Its Direct Binding to the Phospho-CTD of RNA Polymerase II

Dominik M. Meinel, Cornelia Burkert-Kautzsch, Anja Kieser, Eoghan O'Duibhir, Matthias Siebert, Andreas Mayer, Patrick Cramer, Johannes Söding, Frank C. P. Holstege, Katja Sträßer

PLOS Genetics: published November 14, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003914

Contrasted Patterns of Crossover and Non-crossover at Arabidopsis thaliana Meiotic Recombination Hotspots

Jan Drouaud, Hossein Khademian, Laurène Giraut, Vanessa Zanni, Sarah Bellalou, Ian R. Henderson, Matthieu Falque, Christine Mézard

PLOS Genetics: published November 14, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003922

Reconstructing the Population Genetic History of the Caribbean

Andrés Moreno-Estrada, Simon Gravel, Fouad Zakharia, Jacob L. McCauley, Jake K. Byrnes, Christopher R. Gignoux, Patricia A. Ortiz-Tello, Ricardo J. Martínez, Dale J. Hedges, Richard W. Morris, Celeste Eng, Karla Sandoval, Suehelay Acevedo-Acevedo, Paul J. Norman, Zulay Layrisse, Peter Parham, Juan Carlos Martínez-Cruzado, Esteban González Burchard, Michael L. Cuccaro, Eden R. Martin, Carlos D. Bustamante

PLOS Genetics: published November 14, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003925

Crosstalk between NSL Histone Acetyltransferase and MLL/SET Complexes: NSL Complex Functions in Promoting Histone H3K4 Di-Methylation Activity by MLL/SET Complexes

Xiaoming Zhao, Jiaming Su, Fei Wang, Da Liu, Jian Ding, Yang Yang, Joan W. Conaway, Ronald C. Conaway, Lingling Cao, Donglu Wu, Min Wu, Yong Cai, Jingji Jin

PLOS Genetics: published November 14, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003940

Oct4 Is Required ∼E7.5 for Proliferation in the Primitive Streak

Brian DeVeale, Irina Brokhman, Paria Mohseni, Tomas Babak, Charles Yoon, Anthony Lin, Kento Onishi, Alexey Tomilin, Larysa Pevny, Peter W. Zandstra, Andras Nagy, Derek van der Kooy

PLOS Genetics: published November 14, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003957

Elevated Mutagenesis Does Not Explain the Increased Frequency of Antibiotic Resistant Mutants in Starved Aging Colonies

Sophia Katz, Ruth Hershberg

PLOS Genetics: published November 14, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003968

RNAi-Dependent and Independent Control of LINE1 Accumulation and Mobility in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Constance Ciaudo, Florence Jay, Ikuhiro Okamoto, Chong-Jian Chen, Alexis Sarazin, Nicolas Servant, Emmanuel Barillot, Edith Heard, Olivier Voinnet

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003791

Removal of Misincorporated Ribonucleotides from Prokaryotic Genomes: An Unexpected Role for Nucleotide Excision Repair

Alexandra Vaisman, John P. McDonald, Donald Huston, Wojciech Kuban, Lili Liu, Bennett Van Houten, Roger Woodgate

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003878

Molecular Recognition by a Polymorphic Cell Surface Receptor Governs Cooperative Behaviors in Bacteria

Darshankumar T. Pathak, Xueming Wei, Arup Dey, Daniel Wall

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003891

Ash1l Methylates Lys36 of Histone H3 Independently of Transcriptional Elongation to Counteract Polycomb Silencing

Hitomi Miyazaki, Ken Higashimoto, Yukari Yada, Takaho A. Endo, Jafar Sharif, Toshiharu Komori, Masashi Matsuda, Yoko Koseki, Manabu Nakayama, Hidenobu Soejima, Hiroshi Handa, Haruhiko Koseki, Susumu Hirose, Kenichi Nishioka

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003897

Inhibition of the Smc5/6 Complex during Meiosis Perturbs Joint Molecule Formation and Resolution without Significantly Changing Crossover or Non-crossover Levels

Ingrid Lilienthal, Takaharu Kanno, Camilla Sjögren

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003898

The Maternal-to-Zygotic Transition Targets Actin to Promote Robustness during Morphogenesis

Liuliu Zheng, Leonardo A. Sepúlveda, Rhonald C. Lua, Olivier Lichtarge, Ido Golding, Anna Marie Sokac

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003901

Transposable Prophage Mu Is Organized as a Stable Chromosomal Domain of E. coli

Rudra P. Saha, Zheng Lou, Luke Meng, Rasika M. Harshey

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003902

The Histone Variant His2Av is Required for Adult Stem Cell Maintenance in the Drosophila Testis

Jose Rafael Morillo Prado, Shrividhya Srinivasan, Margaret T. Fuller

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003903

Decoding a Signature-Based Model of Transcription Cofactor Recruitment Dictated by Cardinal Cis-Regulatory Elements in Proximal Promoter Regions

Christopher Benner, Sergiy Konovalov, Carlos Mackintosh, Kasey R. Hutt, Rieka Stunnenberg, Ivan Garcia-Bassets

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003906

The Light Skin Allele of SLC24A5 in South Asians and Europeans Shares Identity by Descent

Chandana Basu Mallick, Florin Mircea Iliescu, Märt Möls, Sarah Hill, Rakesh Tamang, Gyaneshwer Chaubey, Rie Goto, Simon Y. W. Ho, Irene Gallego Romero, Federica Crivellaro, Georgi Hudjashov, Niraj Rai, Mait Metspalu, C. G. Nicholas Mascie-Taylor, Ramasamy Pitchappan, Lalji Singh, Marta Mirazon-Lahr, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Richard Villems, Toomas Kivisild

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003912

Disruption of Drosophila melanogaster Lipid Metabolism Genes Causes Tissue Overgrowth Associated with Altered Developmental Signaling

Takeshi Sasamura, Kenji Matsuno, Mark E. Fortini

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003917

Neuron-Specific Feeding RNAi in C. elegans and Its Use in a Screen for Essential Genes Required for GABA Neuron Function

Christopher Firnhaber, Marc Hammarlund

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003921

RNA∶DNA Hybrids Initiate Quasi-Palindrome-Associated Mutations in Highly Transcribed Yeast DNA

Nayun Kim, Jang-Eun Cho, Yue C. Li, Sue Jinks-Robertson

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003924

Recurrent Tissue-Specific mtDNA Mutations Are Common in Humans

David C. Samuels, Chun Li, Bingshan Li, Zhuo Song, Eric Torstenson, Hayley Boyd Clay, Antonis Rokas, Tricia A. Thornton-Wells, Jason H. Moore, Tia M. Hughes, Robert D. Hoffman, Jonathan L. Haines, Deborah G. Murdock, Douglas P. Mortlock, Scott M. Williams

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003929

Recombinogenic Conditions Influence Partner Choice in Spontaneous Mitotic Recombination

James D. Cauwood, Anthony L. Johnson, Alexander Widger, Rita S. Cha

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003931

Fission Yeast Shelterin Regulates DNA Polymerases and Rad3^ATR Kinase to Limit Telomere Extension

Ya-Ting Chang, Bettina A. Moser, Toru M. Nakamura

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003936

Activin Signaling Targeted by Insulin/dFOXO Regulates Aging and Muscle Proteostasis in Drosophila

Hua Bai, Ping Kang, Ana Maria Hernandez, Marc Tatar

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003941

Demographic Divergence History of Pied Flycatcher and Collared Flycatcher Inferred from Whole-Genome Re-sequencing Data

Krystyna Nadachowska-Brzyska, Reto Burri, Pall I. Olason, Takeshi Kawakami, Linnéa Smeds, Hans Ellegren

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003942

Mouse BAZ1A (ACF1) Is Dispensable for Double-Strand Break Repair but Is Essential for Averting Improper Gene Expression during Spermatogenesis

James A. Dowdle, Monika Mehta, Elizabeth M. Kass, Bao Q. Vuong, Akiko Inagaki, Dieter Egli, Maria Jasin, Scott Keeney

PLOS Genetics: published November 7, 2013 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003945

Cover

The maternal-to-zygotic transition promotes robust morphogenesis via regulation of the actin cytoskeleton.

Perspective

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