Genetics News | Sci.News

Grapes (Vitis vinifera). Image credit: Gerhard G.

European Wine Grapes Originated in Western Asia, Study Suggests

Dec 29, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

European wine grapes (Vitis vinifera) originated from the hybridization of western Asian-domesticated table grapes and local wild relatives, according...

Surface of a section of undisturbed block of sediment from Denisova Cave. Image credit: Mike Morley / Flinders University.

Scientists Find Ancient Hominin and Animal DNA in Cave Sediments

Dec 28, 2021 by News Staff

A research team led by Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Flinders University scientists has successfully extracted ancient DNA from...

Coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) on U.S. Route 199 in California, the United States. Image credit: Acroterion / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Coast Redwood

Dec 20, 2021 by News Staff

Researchers have successfully sequenced, assembled and annotated the genome of coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), one of the most widely recognized...

Western honeybees (Apis mellifera). Image credit: PollyDot.

Western Honeybees May Have Originated in Asia, New Study Says

Dec 3, 2021 by News Staff

The origin of the western honeybee (Apis mellifera) has been intensely debated. Addressing this knowledge gap is essential for understanding the evolution...

The calico rockfish (Sebastes dallii). Image credit: K. Lee.

Scientists Identify Genetic Drivers of Extreme Longevity in Pacific Ocean Rockfishes

Nov 16, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and elsewhere has sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 88 Pacific Ocean rockfish species...

Distribution of genes and repetitive elements in Isoetes taiwanensis (center): the relatively even distributions differ from angiosperm genomes, but are similar to what have been reported in other seed-free plants; only scaffolds longer than 10 Mb are plotted. Image credit: Wickell et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26644-7.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Quillwort

Nov 3, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has sequenced the genome of Isoetes taiwanensis, a species of aquatic plant endemic to Taiwan, and uncovered some...

Central bearded dragon cells under a microscope, showing the tiny microchromosomes huddled together amongst the larger chromosomes. Image credit: Shayer Alam / La Trobe University.

‘Microchromosomes’ are Fundamental Building Blocks of Amniote Chromosomes, Study Finds

Nov 2, 2021 by News Staff

Tiny ‘microchromosomes’ (<0.5 µm) are the building blocks of all animal genomes, but they underwent ‘dizzying rearrangement’ in mammals, including...

Representative Bruguiera gymnorhiza trees in the river side population (left) and the oceanside population (right) along the Okukubi River, the Okinawa main island, Japan. Scale bars - 1 m. Image credit: Miryeganeh et al., doi: 10.1111/nph.17738.

Mangrove Tree Genome Sequenced

Oct 26, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University and University College London has decoded the genome of...

Librado et al. pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Image credit: Devanath.

Horses Were First Domesticated in Western Eurasian Steppes More Than 4,000 Years Ago

Oct 21, 2021 by News Staff

In a study published this week in the journal Nature, scientists analyzed ancient horse genomes from all suspected domestication centers, including Iberia,...

A trio of woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) trudges over snow covered hills; behind them, mountains with snow covered peaks rise above dark green forests of fir trees. Image credit: Daniel Eskridge.

Rapid Climate Change Wiped Out Woolly Mammoths, Study Confirms

Oct 20, 2021 by News Staff

In a large-scale environmental DNA metagenomic study of ancient plant and mammal communities, an international team of researchers have analyzed 535 permafrost...

A female blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) in the permanent collection of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Image credit: Wendy Kaveney / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Blue Crab

Oct 5, 2021 by News Staff

A team of scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science has successfully sequenced the genome of the blue crab (Callinectes...

Ke et al. report 14 genes that promote obesity and 3 genes that prevent diet-induced obesity when silenced in Caenorhabditis elegans. Image credit: Renée Gordon, FDA.

Researchers Discover 17 New Genes that Promote or Prevent Obesity

Oct 1, 2021 by News Staff

A new study in Caenorhabditis elegans worms has identified 14 new genes that promote obesity and 3 genes that prevent diet-induced obesity. Ke et al. report...

Etruscan dancers and musicians in the Tomb of the Leopards in Tarquinia, Italy. Image credit: Yann Forget.

Ancient DNA Analysis Sheds New Light on Origin of Etruscans

Sep 27, 2021 by News Staff

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and elsewhere have sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 82 individuals that...

A pair of Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica). Image credit: Mali Ancor.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Atlantic Puffin

Sep 22, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Researchers have sequenced analyzed the genome of the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), a small auk with a large head and a colorful bill. Using the...

Japanese samurai in armor, print by Kusakabe Kimbei, 1870s. Image credit: Getty’s Open Content Program.

Ancient DNA Reveals Tripartite Origins of Japanese People

Sep 21, 2021 by News Staff

The Japanese archipelago, which has been occupied by humans for at least 38,000 years, underwent rapid transformations in the past 3,000 years, first from...

Old German Owl (left) and Racing Homer (right) domestic pigeon breeds that were bred by Boer et al.. Image credit: Sydney Stringham.

Researchers Solve Charles Darwin’s Short-Beak Enigma

Sep 21, 2021 by News Staff

Charles Darwin bred domestic pigeons (Columba livia), and in his Origin of Species described the numerous variations that had been selected by pigeon fanciers....

Shea trees, the source for the popular ingredient shea butter, grow in a shea parkland during the lush rainy season near the town of Bole in northern Ghana. Image credit: Iago Hale / University of New Hampshire.

Shea Tree Genome Sequenced

Sep 10, 2021 by News Staff

Scientists have decoded the genome of the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa), a unique agroforestry tree species central to sustaining local livelihoods and...

The kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus). Image credit: Jake Osborne.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Kakapo Parrot

Sep 9, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has successfully sequenced and analyzed the genome of the kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus), a flightless parrot endemic...

Dickkopf 4 mutations in Ticked cats. Image credit: Kaelin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25348-2.

New Study Explains How Cats Got Their Stripes

Sep 8, 2021 by News Staff

New research shows that a signaling molecule encoded by a gene called Dickkopf 4 underlies a naturally occurring mutation that affects tabby patterns and...