ALBERT

Description: The role of natural selection in molecular evolution has been inferred primarily by rejection of null hypotheses based on neutral theory, rather than by acceptance of specific predictions based on selection. In this report, a population genetic test of a specific prediction for selection on DNA polymorphism is presented. Pyrethroid insecticide use constitutes an experiment for which form of selection and molecular target (voltage-gated sodium channels) are both known. As predicted, differential pyrethroid selection on tobacco budworm populations generated significant geographic heterogeneity in sodium channel marker allele frequencies, compared with arbitrary loci.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Taylor, M F -- Shen, Y -- Kreitman, M E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1995 Dec 1;270(5241):1497-9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Entomology, Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7491497" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Plant immunity against foreign gene invasion takes advantage of posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS). How plants elaborately avert inappropriate PTGS of endogenous coding genes remains unclear. We demonstrate in Arabidopsis that both 5'-3' and 3'-5' cytoplasmic RNA decay pathways act as repressors of transgene and endogenous PTGS. Disruption of bidirectional cytoplasmic RNA decay leads to pleiotropic developmental defects and drastic transcriptomic alterations, which are substantially rescued by PTGS mutants. Upon dysfunction of bidirectional RNA decay, a large number of 21- to 22-nucleotide endogenous small interfering RNAs are produced from coding transcripts, including multiple microRNA targets, which could interfere with their cognate gene expression and functions. This study highlights the risk of unwanted PTGS and identifies cytoplasmic RNA decay pathways as safeguards of plant transcriptome and development.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Zhang, Xinyan -- Zhu, Ying -- Liu, Xiaodan -- Hong, Xinyu -- Xu, Yang -- Zhu, Ping -- Shen, Yang -- Wu, Huihui -- Ji, Yusi -- Wen, Xing -- Zhang, Chen -- Zhao, Qiong -- Wang, Yichuan -- Lu, Jian -- Guo, Hongwei -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Apr 3;348(6230):120-3. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa2618.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. ; Biodynamic Optical Imaging Center, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. ; Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. ; State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. ; State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. hongweig@pku.edu.cn.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25838384" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Congenital heart disease (CHD) patients have an increased prevalence of extracardiac congenital anomalies (CAs) and risk of neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs). Exome sequencing of 1213 CHD parent-offspring trios identified an excess of protein-damaging de novo mutations, especially in genes highly expressed in the developing heart and brain. These mutations accounted for 20% of patients with CHD, NDD, and CA but only 2% of patients with isolated CHD. Mutations altered genes involved in morphogenesis, chromatin modification, and transcriptional regulation, including multiple mutations in RBFOX2, a regulator of mRNA splicing. Genes mutated in other cohorts examined for NDD were enriched in CHD cases, particularly those with coexisting NDD. These findings reveal shared genetic contributions to CHD, NDD, and CA and provide opportunities for improved prognostic assessment and early therapeutic intervention in CHD patients.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Homsy, Jason -- Zaidi, Samir -- Shen, Yufeng -- Ware, James S -- Samocha, Kaitlin E -- Karczewski, Konrad J -- DePalma, Steven R -- McKean, David -- Wakimoto, Hiroko -- Gorham, Josh -- Jin, Sheng Chih -- Deanfield, John -- Giardini, Alessandro -- Porter, George A Jr -- Kim, Richard -- Bilguvar, Kaya -- Lopez-Giraldez, Francesc -- Tikhonova, Irina -- Mane, Shrikant -- Romano-Adesman, Angela -- Qi, Hongjian -- Vardarajan, Badri -- Ma, Lijiang -- Daly, Mark -- Roberts, Amy E -- Russell, Mark W -- Mital, Seema -- Newburger, Jane W -- Gaynor, J William -- Breitbart, Roger E -- Iossifov, Ivan -- Ronemus, Michael -- Sanders, Stephan J -- Kaltman, Jonathan R -- Seidman, Jonathan G -- Brueckner, Martina -- Gelb, Bruce D -- Goldmuntz, Elizabeth -- Lifton, Richard P -- Seidman, Christine E -- Chung, Wendy K -- T32 HL007208/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- Arthritis Research UK/United Kingdom -- British Heart Foundation/United Kingdom -- Department of Health/United Kingdom -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Dec 4;350(6265):1262-6. doi: 10.1126/science.aac9396.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. ; Departments of Systems Biology and Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. NIHR Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation and Trust and Imperial College London, London, UK. National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Analytical and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston MA, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. ; Department of Cardiology, University College London and Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK. ; Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, The School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA. ; Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. Yale Center for Genome Analysis, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. ; Yale Center for Genome Analysis, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. ; Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York, New Hyde Park, NY, USA. ; Departments of Systems Biology and Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ; Department of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. ; Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. ; Department of Cardiology, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA, USA. ; Division of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. ; Department of Pediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ; Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. ; Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA. ; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA. ; Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. ; Heart Development and Structural Diseases Branch, Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, NHLBI/NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA. ; Department of Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. bruce.gelb@mssm.edu goldmuntz@email.chop.edu martina.brueckner@yale.edu richard.lifton@yale.edu cseidman@genetics.med.harvard.edu wkc15@cumc.columbia.edu. ; Mindich Child Health and Development Institute and Department of Pediatrics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA. bruce.gelb@mssm.edu goldmuntz@email.chop.edu martina.brueckner@yale.edu richard.lifton@yale.edu cseidman@genetics.med.harvard.edu wkc15@cumc.columbia.edu. ; Department of Pediatrics, The Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Division of Cardiology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA. bruce.gelb@mssm.edu goldmuntz@email.chop.edu martina.brueckner@yale.edu richard.lifton@yale.edu cseidman@genetics.med.harvard.edu wkc15@cumc.columbia.edu. ; Department of Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. bruce.gelb@mssm.edu goldmuntz@email.chop.edu martina.brueckner@yale.edu richard.lifton@yale.edu cseidman@genetics.med.harvard.edu wkc15@cumc.columbia.edu. ; Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA. Cardiovascular Division, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA. bruce.gelb@mssm.edu goldmuntz@email.chop.edu martina.brueckner@yale.edu richard.lifton@yale.edu cseidman@genetics.med.harvard.edu wkc15@cumc.columbia.edu. ; Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. bruce.gelb@mssm.edu goldmuntz@email.chop.edu martina.brueckner@yale.edu richard.lifton@yale.edu cseidman@genetics.med.harvard.edu wkc15@cumc.columbia.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26785492" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Since 2013 the occurrence of human infections by a novel avian H7N9 influenza virus in China has demonstrated the continuing threat posed by zoonotic pathogens. Although the first outbreak wave that was centred on eastern China was seemingly averted, human infections recurred in October 2013 (refs 3-7). It is unclear how the H7N9 virus re-emerged and how it will develop further; potentially it may become a long-term threat to public health. Here we show that H7N9 viruses have spread from eastern to southern China and become persistent in chickens, which has led to the establishment of multiple regionally distinct lineages with different reassortant genotypes. Repeated introductions of viruses from Zhejiang to other provinces and the presence of H7N9 viruses at live poultry markets have fuelled the recurrence of human infections. This rapid expansion of the geographical distribution and genetic diversity of the H7N9 viruses poses a direct challenge to current disease control systems. Our results also suggest that H7N9 viruses have become enzootic in China and may spread beyond the region, following the pattern previously observed with H5N1 and H9N2 influenza viruses.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lam, Tommy Tsan-Yuk -- Zhou, Boping -- Wang, Jia -- Chai, Yujuan -- Shen, Yongyi -- Chen, Xinchun -- Ma, Chi -- Hong, Wenshan -- Chen, Yin -- Zhang, Yanjun -- Duan, Lian -- Chen, Peiwen -- Jiang, Junfei -- Zhang, Yu -- Li, Lifeng -- Poon, Leo Lit Man -- Webby, Richard J -- Smith, David K -- Leung, Gabriel M -- Peiris, Joseph S M -- Holmes, Edward C -- Guan, Yi -- Zhu, Huachen -- HHSN272201400006C/PHS HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2015 Jun 4;522(7554):102-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14348. Epub 2015 Mar 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases (HKU-Shenzhen Branch), Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen 518112, China [2] Joint Influenza Research Centre (SUMC/HKU), Shantou University Medical College (SUMC), Shantou 515041, China [3] Centre of Influenza Research, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong, China. ; State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases (HKU-Shenzhen Branch), Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen 518112, China. ; 1] Joint Influenza Research Centre (SUMC/HKU), Shantou University Medical College (SUMC), Shantou 515041, China [2] Centre of Influenza Research, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong, China. ; Joint Influenza Research Centre (SUMC/HKU), Shantou University Medical College (SUMC), Shantou 515041, China. ; Key Laboratory of Emergency Detection for Public Health of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310051, China. ; 1] State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases (HKU-Shenzhen Branch), Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen 518112, China [2] Joint Influenza Research Centre (SUMC/HKU), Shantou University Medical College (SUMC), Shantou 515041, China. ; 1] State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases (HKU-Shenzhen Branch), Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen 518112, China [2] Centre of Influenza Research, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong, China. ; Division of Virology, Department of Infectious Diseases, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee 38105, USA. ; Centre of Influenza Research, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong, China. ; Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Charles Perkins Centre, School of Biological Sciences and Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25762140" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉