Genetics News

Sea Sponge from Great Barrier Reef Unravels 700-Million-Year-Old Mystery of Evolution

Amphimedon queenslandica. Image credit: University of Queensland.
Nov 17, 2020 by News Staff

Humans, mice, zebrafish, and most likely other animals, share enhancers — DNA regions that help to regulate gene expression and evolve rapidly — with Amphimedon queenslandica, a species of sea sponge from the Great Barrier Reef, according to new research. Amphimedon queenslandica. Image credit: University of Queensland. “Some elements of the human genome — an organism’s complete set of DNA — functioned in the same way as...

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The Zoonomia Project brings the fraction of eutherian mammal families that are represented by at least one assembly to 83%. This image shows the brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus) in the Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica. Image credit: Christian Mehlführer / CC BY 2.5.

Scientists Sequence Genomes of 131 Placental Mammal Species

Nov 13, 2020 by News Staff

In a study that has implications to advance medicine and biodiversity conservation, a large international consortium of researchers involved in the Zoonomia...

Feng et al. report a substantial step towards the dense representation of avian phylogenetic and molecular diversity, by analyzing 363 genomes from 92.4% of bird families. Image credit: Jon Fjeldsa / Josefin Stiller / University of Copenhagen.

Researchers Sequence Genomes of 363 Bird Species

Nov 12, 2020 by News Staff

Scientists from the Bird 10,000 Genomes Project have successfully sequenced and analyzed the genomes of a total of 363 bird species from 92.4% (218 out...

Petauroides volans, the southern species of the greater glider. Image credit: Steven Kuiter.

Australia’s Greater Glider is Actually Three Different Species

Nov 9, 2020 by Natali Anderson

The greater glider (Petauroides volans), a large, nocturnal gliding marsupial endemic to Australia, isn’t one species, but rather three distinct ones. Petauroides...

New Study Reveals There Are Four Distinct Species of Gentoo Penguins

Nov 5, 2020 by News Staff

Gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) have previously been recognized to be a single species divided into several subspecies. However, a study led by University...

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

Study: At Least Five Dog Lineages Existed 11,000 Years Ago

Nov 3, 2020 by News Staff

In a new study published in the journal Science, an international team of scientists sequenced the genomes of 27 ancient dogs, some of which lived up to...

A portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan based on a skeletal profile reconstructed from ancient DNA methylation maps. Image credit: Maayan Harel.

Denisovan Mitochondrial DNA Found in Tibetan Cave

Nov 2, 2020 by News Staff

In 1980, the 160,000-year-old fossilized partial jawbone of a Denisovan — the so-called Xiahe mandible — was found in Baishiya Karst Cave,...

According to Professor Graur, the functional fraction within the human genome cannot exceed 25%, and is probably considerably lower.

Researchers Create High-Stringency Blueprint of Human Proteome

Oct 26, 2020 by News Staff

In 2010, the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) launched the Human Proteome Project (HPP), creating an international framework for global collaboration,...

Researchers Sequence Genome of Extinct Scimitar-Toothed Cat

Oct 19, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has sequenced and analyzed the entire nuclear genome of the scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium latidens. Their results...

Zhang et al. reveal the genomic changes that allow the Chinese banyan tree (Ficus microcarpa) to produce roots that spring from its branches. Image credit: Gang Wang.

Researchers Sequence Genomes of Two Fig Species and Pollinator Wasp

Oct 14, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of scientists from China, Taiwan and the United States has successfully sequenced and analyzed the genomes of the Chinese banyan...

Cechova et al. reconstructed the ancestral sequence of the great ape Y chromosome by comparing three existing (gorilla, human, and chimpanzee) and two newly-generated (orangutan and bonobo) Y chromosome assemblies. Image credit: Dani Zemba and Monika Cechova, Penn State University.

Researchers Sequence Y Chromosomes of Bonobos and Orangutans

Oct 7, 2020 by News Staff

The male-specific Y chromosome plays a critical role in sex determination and male fertility. However, because of its repetitive nature, it is frequently...

The rusty millipede Trigoniulus corallinus (left) and the orange rosary millipede Helicorthomorpha holstii (right). Image credit: Wai Lok So / CC-BY.

Researchers Sequence Genomes of Two Millipede Species

Sep 29, 2020 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States has sequenced and assembled the chromosomal-level genomes of two very different...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Scientists Sequence Y Chromosome DNA of Denisovans and Neanderthals

Sep 25, 2020 by News Staff

The genomes of our closest relatives, Neanderthals and Denisovans, have been sequenced and compared with that of modern humans. However, most archaic individuals...

Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall

Vikings Weren’t All Scandinavian, Ancient DNA Study Shows

Sep 24, 2020 by News Staff

In the popular imagination, Vikings were fearsome blonde-haired warriors from Scandinavia who used longboats to carry out raids across Europe in a brief...

Penicillium rubens. Image credit: CABI.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Alexander Fleming’s Original Penicillin-Producing Fungus

Sep 24, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from Imperial College London, the University of Oxford and CABI has successfully sequenced the genome of Alexander Fleming’s original...

The wels catfish (Silurus glanis). Image credit: Dieter Florian / CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Wels Catfish

Sep 23, 2020 by Natali Anderson

A team of scientists from Europe has sequenced and analyzed the nearly complete genome of the wels catfish (Silurus glanis), one of the largest freshwater...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Researchers Sequence Mitochondrial Genome of 80,000-Year-Old European Neanderthal

Sep 9, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists has successfully extracted and sequenced the mitochondrial DNA from an 80,000-year-old adult Neanderthal tooth found...

Lady Foot, a Highland wild dog native to New Guinea. Image credit: New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation.

Original New Guinea Singing Dogs Still Exist in the Wild, Study Shows

Sep 8, 2020 by News Staff

The founding population of the New Guinea singing dog, a small-to-medium-sized canid thought to be extinct in the wild since the 1970s, is not, in fact,...

Artistic rendering of American mastodons (Mammut americanum). Image credit: Julius Csotonyi.

American Mastodons Migrated Across Vast Distances Due to Warming Climate, DNA Study Says

Sep 2, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers from McMaster University and elsewhere has carried out a phylogeographic study of the extinct American mastodon (Mammut americanum)...

A guard bee standing next to the entrance hole of the Frieseomelitta varia colony. Image credit: Bibafu / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Brazilian Stingless Bee

Sep 1, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of researchers from Brazil has sequenced the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of Frieseomelitta varia, a stingless bee that has, as a peculiarity,...

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