🧬 Category

genetics

194 papers

Genetics is the fascinating study of how traits are passed down and how our DNA shapes everything from eye color to disease risk. At Gist.Science, we bring you the very latest discoveries in this dynamic field directly from bioRxiv, the leading preprint server for biology. Because these findings appear months before formal publication, staying updated requires sifting through complex data that often feels inaccessible to non-specialists.

To bridge that gap, our team processes every new genetics preprint uploaded to bioRxiv, transforming dense scientific reports into clear, plain-language explanations alongside detailed technical summaries. This dual approach ensures that whether you are a seasoned researcher or simply curious about how genes work, you can grasp the core insights without getting lost in jargon. Below are the latest papers in genetics, curated and simplified for your reading.

🧬 genetics

Diverse processes drive the origination and maturation of super-enhancers and super-silencers during a vast evolutionary timescale of the bicistronic gene SMIM45

This study utilizes the human bicistronic gene SMIM45 to demonstrate that diverse evolutionary mechanisms, ranging from simple Alu insertions to complex "cultivator gene" processes, drive the origination and maturation of super-enhancers and super-silencers over hundreds of millions of years, ultimately facilitating the birth of a human-specific de novo gene expressed in the embryonic brain.

Delihas, N.2026-03-13
🧬 genetics

Dissecting genetic variance structure and evaluating genomic prediction models for single-cross hybrids derived from Stiff Stalk and Non-Stiff Stalk maize heterotic groups

This study demonstrates that GBLUP-based multi-kernel models effectively estimate genetic variance and predict the performance of maize single-cross hybrids when parental information is available, while also revealing that Stiff Stalk germplasm has lost significant grain yield variance in intermediate-flowering groups, thereby highlighting both the potential and limitations of current US maize breeding strategies.

Godoy, J. C., Edwards, J., Lee, E. C., Mikel, M. A., Fernandes, S. B., Hirsch, C. N., Berry, S. P., Lipka, A. E., Bohn (…)2026-03-13
🧬 genetics

High-resolution retrospective single cell lineage tracing with mutable homopolymers

The paper introduces RETrace2, a high-resolution single-cell dual-omic method that leverages highly mutable homopolymers and sparse methylation profiling to simultaneously reconstruct detailed cell lineage trees and identify cell types with unprecedented accuracy in both in vitro and in vivo models.

Cheng, P.-C., Kamenev, D., Kameneva, P., Fitzpatrick, C., Adameyko, I., Kharchenko, P. V., Zhang, K.2026-03-12
🧬 genetics

Genome-scale mapping of variant, enhancer and gene function in primary human CD4+ T cells

By integrating targeted and genome-wide Perturb-seq across 4.1 million primary human CD4+ T cells, this study maps the functional relationships between immune disease-associated noncoding variants, their target cis-regulatory elements, and downstream gene regulatory networks to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying immune diseases.

Moonen, D. P., Claringbould, A., Gschwind, A. R., Schrod, S., Braunger, J., Feng, C., Rauscher, B., Yi, J., Bi, S. Z., M (…)2026-03-11
🧬 genetics

The prevalence of protein misfolding as a mechanism for hereditary deafness

This study develops a protein folding-informed Bayesian model using the Deafness Variation Database to reclassify thousands of variants of uncertain significance as pathogenic, thereby improving genetic diagnoses for hearing loss by demonstrating that protein misfolding is a key mechanism of hereditary deafness.

Gogal, R. A., Cox, G. M., Kolbe, D. L., Odell, A. M., Ovel, C. E., McCormick, K. I., Hong, B., Azaiez, H., Casavant, T. (…)2026-03-11
🧬 genetics

Loss-of-function phenomics, ncORFs, and ambiguity of mutant phenotypes in Medicago truncatula

This study integrates a comprehensive loss-of-function phenomics dataset of *Medicago truncatula* with novel non-canonical open reading frame (ncORF) data to reveal how ncORFs and trans effects complicate the interpretation of mutant phenotypes and to demonstrate that different protein classes exhibit distinct patterns of functional importance.

Cakir, U., Gabed, N., Kaya, S., Benedito, V. A., Brunet, M. A., Roucou, X., Kryvoruchko, I. S.2026-03-10