Hufsah Ashraf, Daniel Doerr, Jana Ebler, Tobias Marschall
{"title":"Building and applying pangenome references to capture genetic diversity","authors":"Hufsah Ashraf, Daniel Doerr, Jana Ebler, Tobias Marschall","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00987-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-026-00987-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":42.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148459529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Folding a broken genome: the versatile roles of cohesin in genome maintenance","authors":"Alberto Marin-Gonzalez, Taekjip Ha \u0000 (, )","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00988-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41576-026-00988-6","url":null,"abstract":"Cohesin is a protein complex that shapes 3D genome organization through two distinct mechanisms. First, cohesin tethers replicated chromatids from DNA replication until mitosis. This process, known as sister chromatid cohesion, ensures accurate chromosome segregation and enables high-fidelity DNA repair through homologous recombination between the sister chromatids. Second, cohesin organizes the genome during interphase by dynamically extruding chromatin loops, structures that have key roles in gene regulation. Recent work has shown that, in addition to the well-established repair functions of sister chromatid cohesion, cohesin-mediated chromatin looping is closely linked to the repair of DNA double-strand breaks — one of the most toxic DNA lesions. In this Review, we discuss the central roles of cohesin in maintaining genome stability, with emphasis on the cellular response to DNA double-strand breaks. We review how dynamic loop structures facilitate signalling of repair events and promote long-range chromatin motions that underpin the repair process. Overall, its dual mode of action — cohesion and loop extrusion — positions cohesin as a central regulator of chromatin architecture and genome maintenance. The protein complex cohesin shapes 3D genome organization through both cohesion and loop extrusion. The authors review the roles of these two mechanistic functions in the cellular response to DNA double-strand breaks, wherein cohesin acts to signal the presence of DNA damage, establish a repair environment, and catalyse the DNA repair process.","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":"27 10","pages":"762-778"},"PeriodicalIF":51.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148432089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Genetic analysis of imaging-derived phenotypes.","authors":"Yiming Bian, Joshua M Akey","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00989-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-026-00989-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs) developed from medical imaging data, such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography and X-ray scans, are traits that provide quantitative information on anatomical and functional properties of organs and tissues. IDPs are powerful tools for identifying biomarkers and studying disease mechanisms. When coupled with genetic data, IDPs can be analysed as heritable phenotypes using modern gene mapping methods to uncover genotype-phenotype relationships. The field of imaging genomics is rapidly maturing, with the emergence of high-quality imaging datasets collected in biobank-scale cohorts and sophisticated computational methods for extracting IDPs from imaging data, including tools that leverage machine learning. Here we review common imaging modalities and analytical approaches for developing IDPs, discuss biological insights gleaned from the large-scale genetic analysis of imaging traits and highlight emerging areas and remaining challenges that must be overcome to realize the full potential of IDPs for genetic analysis.</p>","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":51.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148397308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Genetic origins and constraints of evolutionary innovation","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00983-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41576-026-00983-x","url":null,"abstract":"Evolutionary innovation can emerge through the interplay of genetic novelty, genomic architecture and ecological context, which together shape evolutionary trajectories. This Focus issue explores the latest insights into these processes, highlighting the mechanisms that generate and constrain biological diversity. Evolutionary innovation emerges through the interplay of genetic novelty, genomic architecture and evolutionary constraint. Nature Reviews Genetics presents a Focus issue that explores the mechanisms that generate, integrate and shape biological diversity.","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":"27 7","pages":"499-500"},"PeriodicalIF":51.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41576-026-00983-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148282687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Single-cell four-omics with CHARM","authors":"Yujie Chen","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00986-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41576-026-00986-8","url":null,"abstract":"In this Tools of the Trade article, Yujie Chen describes CHARM, a single-cell four-omics sequencing method that profiles genome conformation, chromatin accessibility, histone modifications and gene expression.","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":"27 9","pages":"661-662"},"PeriodicalIF":51.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148239664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Miguel Montez, Anna Schulten, Govind Menon, Caroline Dean
{"title":"Molecular integration of seasonal temperature signals in flowering time control","authors":"Miguel Montez, Anna Schulten, Govind Menon, Caroline Dean","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00979-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41576-026-00979-7","url":null,"abstract":"Many plants sense and respond to temperature signals over long seasonal timescales to robustly time the transition to reproductive development — a process that will have to cope with the rapidly changing climate. Decades of genetic and molecular analyses have identified many genes influencing flowering in response to environmental signals. Among these, the regulation of one gene, FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), is central to requiring and responding to the prolonged cold of winter, aligning flowering with spring. Recent advances in our mechanistic understanding of FLC regulation suggest that, in contrast to a classic temperature signalling cascade, different aspects of natural fluctuating temperatures are monitored in parallel over various timescales and integrated through chromatin memory mechanisms, providing a robust way to accommodate climate variation. Dissecting the complexity and the source of adaptive variation in these flowering mechanisms helps in understanding the consequences of climate change with far-reaching implications for crop improvement. Plants must accurately time flowering by integrating seasonal temperature cues to ensure reproductive success. This Review describes how two mechanisms — rapid transcriptional responses and long-term epigenetic memory — work together in parallel to robustly control flowering time, and it highlights that variation in these processes provides important information for the future of crops under a changing climate.","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":"27 9","pages":"695-707"},"PeriodicalIF":51.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148227086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"RBPscan measures protein–RNA interactions in living cells","authors":"Dmitry A. Kretov, Daniel Cifuentes","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00985-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41576-026-00985-9","url":null,"abstract":"In this Tools of the Trade article, Dmitry Kretov and Daniel Cifuentes describe RBPscan (RNA-binding protein specificity and contextual analysis via nucleotide editing), a method that measures the strength of in vivo interactions between RNA binding proteins and their RNA targets.","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":"27 10","pages":"740-740"},"PeriodicalIF":51.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148205753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revisiting retinal and macular degeneration in the genomics era","authors":"Anand Swaroop, Botond Roska","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00960-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41576-026-00960-4","url":null,"abstract":"Retinal and macular degeneration constitute a prominent cause of untreatable vision loss globally. The development of efficacious therapies is impeded by extensive clinical and genetic heterogeneity, poor phenotype–genotype correlation and lack of appropriate disease models. Pioneering advances in next-generation sequencing together with computational methods, human model systems and genetic manipulation technologies have begun to unravel causal genes and variants as well as gene interaction networks. Photoreceptor dysfunction or death represents the end point for both Mendelian and complex traits affecting the retina or its specialized central region, the macula. Here we review the genetic and genomic bases of retinal and macular degeneration and how recent advances are informing therapies to slow the loss of or restore vision. Retinal and macular degeneration are major causes of vision loss around the globe. In this Review, Swaroop and Roska outline the genetic underpinnings of these eye diseases increasingly revealed by technological advances, while also highlighting mechanistic patterns that can inform therapeutic intervention to restore vision.","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":"27 9","pages":"669-694"},"PeriodicalIF":51.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148150667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How evolution builds three morphs from one genome","authors":"Sarah Kocher","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00984-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41576-026-00984-w","url":null,"abstract":"Sarah Kocher reflects on two influential 2016 studies in the ruff that demonstrated how a large genomic inversion links variation across multiple traits into a single ‘supergene’.","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":"27 7","pages":"511-511"},"PeriodicalIF":51.4,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148150745","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sara Valpione, Alexandra Clipson, Dominic G. Rothwell, Caroline Dive, Florent Mouliere
{"title":"Advancing the applications of liquid biopsies in oncology","authors":"Sara Valpione, Alexandra Clipson, Dominic G. Rothwell, Caroline Dive, Florent Mouliere","doi":"10.1038/s41576-026-00974-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41576-026-00974-y","url":null,"abstract":"Liquid biopsies are increasingly important tools for precision oncology. Although their ability to detect the minute amounts of cancer biomarkers present in biofluids is improving, limitations remain regarding accurate detection of certain pathologies, analytical validation, application range and broad clinical utility. Emerging methods harness multi-omic data from a range of circulating analytes that can be released from various sources via distinct biological processes, thereby providing complementary and more sensitive information. Modulating the cellular release of these analytes and their half-lives in blood can be exploited to inform on cancer detection, treatment selection, response and/or toxicity. Simultaneously, efforts to miniaturize liquid biopsies to capitalize on their minimally invasive nature will accelerate turnaround time and enable continuous and ideally remote monitoring of circulating analytes. Together, these advances towards next-generation liquid biopsies will substantially improve patient experience. In this Review, Valpione et al. discuss how the current applications of liquid biopsies in precision oncology might be expanded to provide a more holistic and personalized view of cancer and to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment.","PeriodicalId":19067,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Genetics","volume":"27 9","pages":"724-738"},"PeriodicalIF":51.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148055550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}