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Following our own path.
Chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, provide a unique opportunity to study the evolution and adaptations in the human line of rapidly evolving gene families. In this issue of PLoS Genetics, Abi-Rached et al. performed an extensive comparison of the genomics, population biology, and immunology of human and chimpanzee variable receptor–ligand interactions governing Natural Killer cell functions in immune defense and reproduction. These comparisons reveal dramatic qualitative differences between the human and chimpanzee systems, which predominantly derive from adaptations on the human line in response to selective pressures placed on human Natural Killer cells by the competing needs of defense and reproduction.
Image Credit: Emily Wroblewski (Stanford University)
Perspectives
Endless Forms Most Viral
PLOS Genetics: published November 18, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001210
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Beyond QTL Cloning
PLOS Genetics: published November 11, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001197
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Research Articles
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PLOS Genetics: published November 24, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001199
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PLOS Genetics: published November 24, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001211
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Leptotene/Zygotene Chromosome Movement Via the SUN/KASH Protein Bridge in Caenorhabditis elegans
PLOS Genetics: published November 24, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001219
Systematic Dissection and Trajectory-Scanning Mutagenesis of the Molecular Interface That Ensures Specificity of Two-Component Signaling Pathways
PLOS Genetics: published November 24, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001220
Essential Functions of the Histone Demethylase Lid
PLOS Genetics: published November 24, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001221
Nomadic Enhancers: Tissue-Specific cis-Regulatory Elements of yellow Have Divergent Genomic Positions among Drosophila Species
PLOS Genetics: published November 24, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001222
CTCF-Dependent Chromatin Bias Constitutes Transient Epigenetic Memory of the Mother at the H19-Igf2 Imprinting Control Region in Prospermatogonia
PLOS Genetics: published November 24, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001224
Nucleolin Is Required for DNA Methylation State and the Expression of rRNA Gene Variants in Arabidopsis thaliana
PLOS Genetics: published November 24, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001225
Endogenous Viral Elements in Animal Genomes
PLOS Genetics: published November 18, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001191
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PLOS Genetics: published November 18, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001209
Altered DNA Methylation in Leukocytes with Trisomy 21
PLOS Genetics: published November 18, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001212
Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Two Novel Regions at 11p15.5-p13 and 1p31 with Major Impact on Acute-Phase Serum Amyloid A
PLOS Genetics: published November 18, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001213
The Parental Non-Equivalence of Imprinting Control Regions during Mammalian Development and Evolution
PLOS Genetics: published November 18, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001214
RACK-1 Acts with Rac GTPase Signaling and UNC-115/abLIM in Caenorhabditis elegans Axon Pathfinding and Cell Migration
PLOS Genetics: published November 18, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001215
A Functional Genomics Approach Identifies Candidate Effectors from the Aphid Species Myzus persicae (Green Peach Aphid)
PLOS Genetics: published November 18, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001216
Genome-Wide Association Meta-Analysis of Cortical Bone Mineral Density Unravels Allelic Heterogeneity at the RANKL Locus and Potential Pleiotropic Effects on Bone
PLOS Genetics: published November 18, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001217
A Coastal Cline in Sodium Accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana Is Driven by Natural Variation of the Sodium Transporter AtHKT1;1
PLOS Genetics: published November 11, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001193
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An Evolutionary Framework for Association Testing in Resequencing Studies
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Epigenetic Silencing of Spermatocyte-Specific and Neuronal Genes by SUMO Modification of the Transcription Factor Sp3
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Analysis of the 10q11 Cancer Risk Locus Implicates MSMB and NCOA4 in Human Prostate Tumorigenesis
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Replication and Recombination Factors Contributing to Recombination-Dependent Bypass of DNA Lesions by Template Switch
PLOS Genetics: published November 11, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001205
A Buoyancy-Based Screen of Drosophila Larvae for Fat-Storage Mutants Reveals a Role for Sir2 in Coupling Fat Storage to Nutrient Availability
PLOS Genetics: published November 11, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001206
The Transcriptional Regulator Rok Binds A+T-Rich DNA and Is Involved in Repression of a Mobile Genetic Element in Bacillus subtilis
PLOS Genetics: published November 11, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001207
Conflict between Noise and Plasticity in Yeast
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Genetic Basis of Growth Adaptation of Escherichia coli after Deletion of pgi, a Major Metabolic Gene
PLOS Genetics: published November 4, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001186
The Cellular Robustness by Genetic Redundancy in Budding Yeast
PLOS Genetics: published November 4, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001187
Genome-Wide Effects of Long-Term Divergent Selection
PLOS Genetics: published November 4, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001188
Hormad1 Mutation Disrupts Synaptonemal Complex Formation, Recombination, and Chromosome Segregation in Mammalian Meiosis
PLOS Genetics: published November 4, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001190
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Human-Specific Evolution and Adaptation Led to Major Qualitative Differences in the Variable Receptors of Human and Chimpanzee Natural Killer Cells
PLOS Genetics: published November 4, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001192
ATM Limits Incorrect End Utilization during Non-Homologous End Joining of Multiple Chromosome Breaks
PLOS Genetics: published November 4, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001194
DNA Methylation and Normal Chromosome Behavior in Neurospora Depend on Five Components of a Histone Methyltransferase Complex, DCDC
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The Complex Genetic Architecture of the Metabolome
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The Caenorhabditis elegans Kinesin-3 Motor UNC-104/KIF1A Is Degraded upon Loss of Specific Binding to Cargo
PLOS Genetics: published November 4, 2010 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001200