Genetics News

Neanderthals May Have Had Heightened Sensitivity to Pain

Neanderthals are commonly thought to have relied on dangerous close range hunting techniques, using non-projectile weapons like the thrusting spears depicted here; this hunting approach is thought to have brought them into violent contact with large mammals, resulting in high levels of injury especially to the head and neck when compared to modern humans; Beier et al found similar head injury levels in both Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic humans, casting doubt on this hypothesis. Image credit: Gleiver Prieto.
Jul 27, 2020 by News Staff

Neanderthals may have experienced more pain than average modern humans do, according to new research led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Karolinska Institutet and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. Zeberg et al show that a Neanderthal variant of the sodium channel Nav1.7, which is crucial for the initiation of the pain signals, occurs in some humans today. The Neanderthal variant differs from the...

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Mühlemann et al show that the Vikings also suffered from smallpox. Image credit: Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall.

Diverse Strains of Smallpox Virus Were Widespread in Viking Age, New Study Shows

Jul 25, 2020 by News Staff

Smallpox, caused by the variola virus, is one of the most devastating human diseases. Smallpox killed millions of people but drove Edward Jenner’s invention...

A telomere is the end of a chromosome that protects the interior of a chromosome from damage during cell division. Image credit: Darryl Leja, NHGRI.

Researchers Produce First ‘Telomere-To-Telomere’ Sequence of Human Chromosome

Jul 15, 2020 by News Staff

A team of U.S. and U.K. scientists has generated the end-to-end gapless DNA sequence of the human X chromosome. A telomere is the end of a chromosome that...

Tahitian warrior dugouts from ‘Le Costume Ancien et Moderne’ by Giulio Ferrario, Milan, between 1816 and 1827.

Ancient Polynesians and Native Americans Had Contact Long Before Europeans Arrived

Jul 14, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of genetic researchers has found conclusive evidence for a single contact between Polynesian individuals and a Native American group...

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

Sled Dogs Emerged Over 9,500 Years Ago in Siberia: Study

Jun 26, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has sequenced the genomes of 10 modern sled dogs, an ancient sled dog and an ancient wolf, both from Siberia, and...

The European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis). Image credit: Sebastian Kvist.

European Medicinal Leech Genome Sequenced

Jun 25, 2020 by News Staff

Researchers have for the first time mapped the genome of the European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis), one of the most prominently used medicinal...

A group of Neanderthals in a cave. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Neanderthal Woman from Chagyrskaya Cave

Jun 18, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of researchers has sequenced and analyzed the genome of an 80,000-year-old Neanderthal woman from Chagyrskaya Cave in the Altai Mountains,...

Almarri et al present a comprehensive analysis of structural variation in the Human Genome Diversity panel, a high-coverage dataset of 911 samples from 54 diverse worldwide populations, and identify, in total, 126,018 variants, 78% of which were not identified in previous global sequencing projects. Image credit: Almarri et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.05.024.

Researchers Identify 126,018 Human Genetic Variations

Jun 12, 2020 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Francis Crick Institute, and EMBL-EBI has created a comprehensive structural variation atlas...

Illustration of one of the early settlers in the Caribbean. Image credit: Tom Björklund.

Humans Colonized Caribbean Islands in Three Waves: Study

Jun 5, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 93 ancient Caribbean islanders and found evidence of at least three separate...

Anava et al used ancient DNA extraction from Dead Sea Scroll fragments made of animal skin to determine fragment origin and show unification of scrolls from distinct geological locations, highlighting the potential for genetics to illuminate the history of archaeological objects. Image credit: Anava et al, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.046.

Scientists Unravel Genetic Mysteries of Dead Sea Scrolls

Jun 3, 2020 by News Staff

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls had an incomparable impact on the historical understanding of Judaism and Christianity. ‘Piecing together’ scroll...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

Study: Women with Neanderthal Progesterone Gene Have Higher Fertility

May 29, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A hormone called progesterone is important for preparing the uterine lining for egg implantation and in maintaining the early stages of pregnancy. Almost...

The hormone ghrelin affects alcohol-seeking behavior. Image credit: Michal Jarmoluk.

Researchers Identify 19 New Genetic Variants for Problematic Drinking

May 27, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has identified 29 independent genetic risk variants — 19 of them novel — linked to problematic alcohol...

The jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) in King Canyon Wash, Saguaro National Park West, Arizona, the United States. Image credit: Katja Schulz / CC BY 2.0.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Jojoba Plant

May 26, 2020 by Natali Anderson

An international team of scientists has for the first time mapped the entire genome of the jojoba plant (Simmondsia chinensis). The jojoba (Simmondsia...

Penium margaritaceum. Image credit: Cornell University.

Scientists Sequence Single-Celled Alga Genome

May 24, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has successfully sequenced the genome of Penium margaritaceum, a single-celled alga species that belongs to Zygnematophyceae,...

The Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Image credit: Mhwater.

Ancient DNA Study Sheds Light on Deep Population History of Andes

May 11, 2020 by News Staff

A large international team of researchers has conducted the first in-depth, wide-scale study of the genomic history of pre-Columbian Andean civilizations...

Liu et al highlight the importance of genome-wide data from dense sampling of ethnolinguistic groups in providing new insights into the genetic diversity and history of an ethnolinguistically-diverse region, such as Vietnam. Image credit: Quang Nguyen.

Vietnam Has Very Rich Genetic Diversity, New Research Shows

May 1, 2020 by News Staff

Vietnam features extensive ethnolinguistic diversity and occupies a key position in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA). Yet, the genetic diversity of the country...

CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing can cause hundreds of unintended mutations. Image credit: Lisichik.

DNA is Just List of Ingredients, Researcher Says

Apr 24, 2020 by News Staff

The common view of heredity is that all information passed down from one generation to the next is stored in DNA. But University of Maryland’s Dr. Antony...

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (greenish brown) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (pink), isolated from a patient sample. Image credit: NIAID.

Genetic Study Identifies Three Variants of SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus

Apr 9, 2020 by News Staff

In a phylogenetic network analysis of the first 160 complete genomes of SARS-CoV-2 to be sequenced from human patients, an international team of scientists...

The occasional use of stone tools as ‘strike-a-lights’ was a technocultural feature shared among Neanderthals in France.

Homo sapiens Interbred with Various Neanderthal Populations, Study Says

Apr 2, 2020 by News Staff

Modern humans in Eurasia carry genetic material inherited from Altai Neanderthals, according to a study published in the journal Genetics. This is noteworthy...

The sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus). Image credit: Andreas Hartl.

Scientists Decode Genome of Sterlet Sturgeon

Mar 31, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from the United States and Europe has produced the first high-quality genomic sequence for the sterlet (Acipenser...

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