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Resistance to mosaic disease explained
Researchers from ETH Zurich, the United States and Uganda have identified the gene responsible for resistance in certain cassava cultivars against the devastating cassava mosaic disease. This is an important step for breeding virus-resistant cassava varieties.
The genetic (and biophysical) basis of adaptation, and what we can learn from it
Mendel was born 200 years ago this July! To celebrate, PNAS published a special issue on the influence of his findings on evolution. Kirsten Bomblies (D-BIOL, IMPB) and Katie Peichel (Uni Bern), contributed a perspective on the Genetics of Adaptation, integrating empirical and theoretical studies.
A winding road of adaptive evolution to polyploid chromosome segregation
How can organisms evolve to segregate additional chromosome copies when they have been optimized over eons to segregate pairs of homologs in meiosis? A study from the Bomblies lab (IMPB, DBIOL) investigates the molecular basis of multigenic adaptation to polyploidy in Arabidopsis arenosa.