STR Tailor's Tape

Proposed Cover Art

Publication:

The Impact of Short Tandem Repeat Variation on Gene Expression.

Nature Genetics 51, 1652–1659 (2019)

Image was featured as banner art on Nature Genetics homepage (see screenshot)

The paper examines a type of variation in the human genome called Short Tandem Repeat (STRs) and analyzes its implication in the expression of genes associated with complex traits such as schizophrenia, inflammatory bowel disease, height and intelligence. Referencing the effects of STR variations on height, the illustration depicts one example of an STR, the AC repeat, on a twisted tailor's tape-measure, which evokes the classic structure of double-stranded DNA.