Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), encoded by the Aicda gene, is indispensable for secondary antibody diversification through somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR). It is expressed ...

Speciation has occurred countless times throughout history, and yet the genetic mechanisms that lead to speciation are still missing pieces. Here, we describe the genetics of two processes that can act alone or together ...

Traditional <italic>Drosophila</italic> hearts screens have focused on early patterning and development, and adult heart phenotypes have only recently been pursued due to difficulty in accurately measuring cardiac function ...

Although it has been known for many years that B-cyclin/CDK complexes regulate the assembly of the mitotic spindle and entry into mitosis, the full complement of relevant CDK targets has not been identified. It has previously ...

In an ever-changing world, evolution is an essential process that may allow organisms to adapt to their environment through natural selection. All evolutionary processes act through a single fundamental medium: genetic variation. ...

Sea urchin larvae possess a beautiful, intricately patterned, calcium-carbonate skeleton. Formation of this complex structure results from two independent processes within the developing embryo: specification of the mesenchymal ...

<p>Nociceptors are specialized primary sensory neurons that represent the first line of defense against potentially tissue damaging environmental stimuli, and are involved in pathological pain states caused by nerve damage, ...

Many factors, including gene networks, developmental processes, and the environment mediate the link between the activity of genes and complex phenotypes in higher organisms. While genetic variants are the raw material for ...

Mechanisms of sex chromosome dosage compensation vary widely between different vertebrate species. All eutherians, including humans, other primates, and rodents, undergo random X chromosome inactivation in early female embryos, ...

MicroRNAs are key post-transcriptional regulators that have been found to play critical roles in the regulation of cellular functions. There is an emerging concept that microRNAs may be just as essential for fine-tuning ...