Genetics News

Fernandina Island Tortoise Is Not Extinct, New Study Confirms

Fernanda, the only known living Fernandina giant tortoise (Chelonoidis phantasticus), now lives at the Galápagos National Park’s Giant Tortoise Breeding Center on Santa Cruz Island. Image credit: Galápagos Conservancy.
Jun 10, 2022 by News Staff

The status of the Fernandina Island Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis phantasticus) has been a mystery, with the species known from a single specimen collected in 1906. Fernanda, the only known living Fernandina giant tortoise (Chelonoidis phantasticus), now lives at the Galápagos National Park’s Giant Tortoise Breeding Center on Santa Cruz Island. Image credit: Galápagos Conservancy. Fernandina Island is an active volcano that stands alone...

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Eirini Marouli et al report 83 height-associated coding variants with lower minor-allele frequencies and effects of up to 2 cm per allele, greater than ten times the average effect of common variants. Image credit: Popular Science Monthly, D. Appleton and Company, 1887.

Study: Height May Be Unrecognized Risk Factor for Several Common Conditions in Adults

Jun 6, 2022 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has found genetic evidence supporting associations between height and 127 clinical traits. Raghavan et al. conclude...

Researchers Sequence First Pompeian Human Genome

May 27, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists from the United States, Italy, Denmark and Brazil have successfully sequenced the genome of a 35-40 year-old male who died in the ancient city...

Oat (Avena sativa). Image credit: Hans Braxmeier.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Oat

May 18, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Cultivated oat (Avena sativa) is an allohexaploid crop thought to have been domesticated more than 3,000 years ago while growing as a weed in wheat, emmer...

With over a million species described, insects are a treasure trove of diversity and represent boundless possibilities as research tools for answering fundamental questions in biology. Current approaches for insect gene editing require microinjection of materials into early embryos, which is highly challenging in most species. Shirai et al. established and optimized a simple and efficient method for insect gene editing by adult injection, which can be readily implemented in any laboratory and directly applied to a great diversity of non-model insect species. Image credit: Shirai et al., doi: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2022.100215.

Scientists Develop New CRISPR Method for Insect Gene Editing

May 18, 2022 by News Staff

Current approaches for insect gene editing require microinjection of materials into early embryos. This severely limits the application of gene editing...

Wells et al performed genome-wide association studies for two self-reported hearing phenotypes, using more than 250,000 UK Biobank volunteers aged between 40 and 69 years. Image credit: Pexels.

Researchers Identify Ten New Hearing Loss Genes

May 16, 2022 by News Staff

A multinational team of scientists has performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis of clinically diagnosed and self-reported hearing impairment on...

Australian Dingoes are Early Offshoot of Modern Breed Dogs, Study Shows

Apr 25, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists have sequenced the genome of a desert dingo (Canis dingo) from a remote region of South Australia and compared it with those of five breeds...

Sunflower. Image credit: Mabel Amber.

Mother Nature Prefers Symmetry and Simplicity, Researchers Say

Apr 6, 2022 by News Staff

Biological structures frequently exhibit modularity and symmetry, but the origin of such trends is not well understood. It can be tempting to assume —...

Complete Human Genome Sequenced for First Time

Apr 1, 2022 by News Staff

Twenty years after scientists from the Human Genome Project produced the first draft human genome sequence, the Telomere to Telomere (T2T) Consortium has...

Helena, the helmeted honeyeater (Lichenostomus melanops cassidix) whose genome was sequenced, at Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve, Victoria, Australia. Image credit: Nick Bradsworth.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Helmeted Honeyeater

Mar 29, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists from Monash University and elsewhere have sequenced and assembled the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of the helmeted honeyeater (Lichenostomus...

This image shows subcellular localization of ADRAM (red) in primary cortical neurons. Scale bar - 20 μm. Image credit: Wei et al., doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110546.

Study: Junk DNA Could Be Key to Extinguishing Fear-Related Memories

Mar 25, 2022 by News Staff

Queensland Brain Institute’s Dr. Timothy Bredy and colleagues have discovered an experience-induced non-coding RNA, named ADRAM (activity-dependent lncRNA...

The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). Image credit: University of Melbourne.

Scientists Propose Nine Steps to De-Extinction of Tasmanian Tiger

Mar 10, 2022 by News Staff

The reality of bringing back the thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also known as the Tasmanian tiger or the marsupial wolf, from extinction using its...

The genomic features of the genome of the autotetraploid potato (Solanum tuberosum): (a) gene density (number of genes per Mb; red) and percentage of TE-related sequence (yellow) within 2-Mb windows along the four haplotypes of each of the 12 chromosomes (Chr. 1-12); (b) landscapes of methylation in CG (purple), CHG (blue), CHH (gray) context within 2-Mb windows; the links in the center show >600 structural rearrangements >100 kb found between the four haplotypes of each chromosome; light blue and red boxes refer to the maternally and paternally inherited chromosomes. Image credit: Sun et al., doi: 10.1038/s41588-022-01015-0.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Tetraploid Potato Cultivar

Mar 9, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and elsewhere have decoded the genome of the potato cultivar ‘Otava.’ Their results...

The Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata). Image credit: Pavlofox.

New Study Sheds Light on How Colorado Potato Beetles Rapidly Evolve Resistance to Insecticides

Feb 21, 2022 by News Staff

Insecticide resistance and rapid pest evolution threatens food security and the development of sustainable agricultural practices, yet the evolutionary...

The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus). Image credit: Seashalia Gibb.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Numbat

Feb 15, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Two teams of genetic researchers have sequenced the genome of the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), a critically endangered Australian insectivorous marsupial...

The diversity of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) was already declining some 900 to 800 years before its discovery by Georg Wilhelm Steller. Image credit: R. Ellis.

Genetic Secrets of Steller’s Sea Cow Revealed

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has extracted and analyzed ancient DNA from fragmentary remains of 12 individuals of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis...

A female European mistletoe (Viscum album) plant in winter in the Herrenhäuser Gardens in Hanover, Germany. Image credit: Schröder et al., oi: 10.1111/tpj.15558.

Researchers Sequence Gene Space of European Mistletoe

Feb 4, 2022 by News Staff

The European mistletoe (Viscum album) is a hemiparasitic flowering plant steeped in ancient associations with druids and Northern European folklore. Since...

A person’s appreciation of nature and their tendency to visit natural spaces are heritable characteristics. Image credit: Adam Derewecki.

Study: Our Desire to Be in Nature and How We Experience It are Partially Heritable

Feb 3, 2022 by News Staff

Using the TwinsUK panel, an international team of researchers led by the National University of Singapore examined the extent to which genetic versus environmental...

Canadian Eskimo dogs. Illustration by John James Audubon and John Bachman (1845-1848).

Canine Genetic Mutation Associated with Small Body Size Arose More Than 53,000 Years Ago

Jan 28, 2022 by News Staff

Researchers have assembled a catalog of 1,431 genomes, inclusive of ancient canines, modern breed dogs, and wild canids, in a search for genetic variants...

Cave lions painted in the Chauvet Cave, France.

Ancient Lions and Bears Colonized North America in Multiple Waves, DNA Study Says

Jan 4, 2022 by News Staff

Researchers from the University of Adelaide and elsewhere have sequenced and analyzed mitochondrial DNA from fossils of cave lions (Panthera spp.) and...

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