Lead poisoning is a primary factor impeding the survival and recovery of the critically endangered California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus). However, the frequency and magnitude of lead exposure in condors is not well-known in part because most blood lead monitoring occurs biannually, and biannual blood samples capture only approximately 10% of ...
The evolutionary forces that establish and hone target gene networks of transcription factors are largely unknown. Transposition of retroelements may play a role, but its global importance, beyond a few well described examples for isolated genes, is not clear. We report that LTR class I endogenous retrovirus (ERV) retroelements impact considerably ...
The asymmetric localization of messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein determinants plays an important role in the establishment of complex body plans. In Drosophila oocytes, the anterior localization of bicoid mRNA and the posterior localization of oskar mRNA are key events in establishing the anterior-posterior axis. Although the mechanisms that drive b...
During development, the formation of mature neural circuits requires the selective elimination of inappropriate synaptic connections. Here we show that C1q, the initiating protein in the classical complement cascade, is expressed by postnatal neurons in response to immature astrocytes and is localized to synapses throughout the postnatal CNS and re...
A complete and accurate set of human protein-coding gene annotations is perhaps the single most important resource for genomic research after the human-genome sequence itself, yet the major gene catalogs remain incomplete and imperfect. Here we describe a genome-wide effort, carried out as part of the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) project, to ide...
Pairwise contact potentials have a long, successful history in protein structure prediction. They provide an easily-estimated representation of many attributes of protein structures, such as the hydrophobic effect. In order to improve on existing potentials, one should develop a clear understanding of precisely what information they convey. Here, u...
A hidden Markov model-based gene-finding system called Genie was applied to the genomic Adh region in Drosophila melanogaster as a part of the Genome Annotation Assessment Project (GASP). Predictions from three versions of the Genie gene-finding system were submitted, one based on statistical properties of coding genes, a second included EST alignm...
The Genome 10K project aims to sequence the genomes of 10,000 vertebrates, representing approximately one genome for each vertebrate genus. Since fishes (cartilaginous fishes, ray-finned fishes and lobe-finned fishes) represent more than 50% of extant vertebrates, it is planned to target 4,000 fish genomes. At present, nearly 60 fish genomes are be...
