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Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Humans Interbred with Four Extinct Hominin Species, Research Finds

Jul 29, 2019 by News Staff

As anatomically modern Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa and around the rest of the world, they met and interbred with at least four different hominin...

African farmers domesticated the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) from its wild form, in a process of unconscious selection over many centuries. Domesticated cowpea has much larger seeds that have lost its dormancy of the wild progenitor. Image credit: Ton Rulkens / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Cowpea Genome Sequenced

Jul 10, 2019 by News Staff

A large international team of researchers has sequenced the genome of the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), a major crop for worldwide food and nutritional security,...

Left: captive Philistine warriors from a wall relief at Medinet Habu, Egypt, 1185-1152 BC. Right: an artist's conception of a Philistine warrior. Image credit: John Shumate.

Biblical Philistines Came from Europe, Ancient DNA Reveals

Jul 4, 2019 by News Staff

A team of scientists from Germany, the United States and Korea has sequenced and analyzed DNA of 10 Bronze and Iron Age individuals from the ancient Mediterranean...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

DNA of Early Neanderthals Reveals 80,000 Years of Genetic Continuity in Europe

Jun 27, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has sequenced the nuclear genomes of two Neanderthals who lived in Europe around 120,000 years ago. They found that...

Almond Genome Sequenced

Jun 17, 2019 by News Staff

The domesticated almond tree (Prunus amygdalus) has been feeding humans for millennia. Derivation from the wild, bitter, and toxic almond required loss...

Scientists Sequence Spider Glue Genes

Jun 13, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Researchers have published the first-ever complete sequences of two genes that allow spiders to produce glue, a modified version of silk that keeps a spider’s...

Extant and extinct sloths: in the tree, going clockwise from left -- extinct West Indian sloth (Acratocnus), extant three-fingered sloth or ai (Bradypus), and extant two-fingered sloth or unau (Choloepus); from left to right on the ground are representative giant ground sloths -- Mylodon (South America), Megalonyx (North America), and Megatherium (South America). According to the new molecular studies, Bradypus is most closely related to a group that includes Megalonyx and Megatherium. Choloepus is related to Mylodon, but Acratocnus and its West Indian kin represent a separate branch that is distinct from that of all other sloths. Human for scale: 1.85 m. Image credit: Jorge Blanco.

DNA and Protein Studies Shake Up Sloth Family Tree

Jun 7, 2019 by News Staff

Sloths once roamed the Americas, ranging from cat-sized animals that lived in trees all the way up to giant ground sloths. The only species we know today,...

A scientific illustration of the Upward Sun River camp in what is now Interior Alaska. Image credit: Eric S. Carlson / Ben A. Potter.

Genetic Analysis Reveals Previously Unknown Group of Ancient Siberians

Jun 7, 2019 by News Staff

Northeastern Siberia has been inhabited by humans for more than 40,000 years but its deep population history remains poorly understood. In a new study,...

Genetic variation may have contributed to our ability to domesticate dogs and other animals. Image credit: Sven Lachmann.

Being Dog Lover Could Be in Your Genetic Makeup

Jun 3, 2019 by News Staff

In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, an international team of researchers from Sweden and the United Kingdom assessed the ‘heritability...

Prehistoric rock paintings in Manda Guéli Cave in the Ennedi Mountains, Chad, Central Africa. Image credit: David Stanley / CC BY 2.0.

Ancient DNA Study Tells Story of East Africa’s First Herders and Farmers

May 30, 2019 by News Staff

How food production entered sub-Saharan Africa some 5,000 years ago and the ways in which herding and farming spread through the continent in ancient times...

Gao et al present a tomato pan-genome constructed using genome sequences of 725 phylogenetically and geographically representative accessions, revealing 4,873 genes absent from the reference genome. Image credit: Hans Braxmeier.

Scientists Assemble Pan-Genome of Cultivated Tomato and Its Wild Relatives

May 14, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research and the U.S. Department of Agriculture- Agricultural Research Service...

Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are one of three whale species found only in the Arctic and are well-known for their tusks. Image credit: Carsten Egevang.

Narwhal Genome Sequenced

May 3, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and Malaysia’s...

Leaves and freshly dug pods of Arachis hypogaea, Stuckey, South Carolina. Image credit: Dave, aka Pollinator / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Cultivated Peanut

May 2, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has produced the high-quality genomic sequence for the cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea), an important grain legume...

The black-tailed bumblebee (Bombus melanopygus). Image credit: Walter Siegmund.

Researchers Identify ‘Color Switch’ Gene in Black-Tailed Bumblebees

May 1, 2019 by News Staff

A research team led by Penn State scientists has identified the gene responsible for the color switch between the red and black color forms of the black-tailed...

Isarachnanthus nocturnes. Image credit: Stampar et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-42621-z.

Tube-Dwelling Anemone Has Biggest Mitochondrial Genome Ever Sequenced

Apr 30, 2019 by News Staff

The banded tube-dwelling anemone (Isarachnanthus nocturnes), a sea creature that resembles a prehistoric flower, now holds the record for the largest mitochondrial...

The Chinese skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis). Image credit: Andrey Korzun / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Chinese Skullcap Genome Sequenced

Apr 25, 2019 by News Staff

A team of geneticists from the John Innes Centre and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has produced the first high-quality genomic sequence for the Chinese...

Wang et al predicted a set of high-confidence risk genes for schizophrenia; these genes account for a significantly enriched heritability; they are predominantly expressed in brain tissues, especially prenatally, and are enriched for targets of approved drugs, suggesting opportunities to reposition existing drugs for schizophrenia. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Researchers Identify 104 High-Risk Genes for Schizophrenia

Apr 23, 2019 by News Staff

A research team led by Vanderbilt University scientists has identified a set of high-confidence risk genes for schizophrenia. The team’s results support...

Denisovans were probably dark-skinned, unlike the pale Neandertals. The picture shows a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Mauro Cutrona.

Two Independent Denisovan Lineages Contributed to Modern Papuan Genomes: Study

Apr 12, 2019 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Cell, modern Papuans carry hundreds of gene variants from two Denisovan lineages — distinct from...

This image depicts a Pleistocene landscape in northern Spain with woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), equids, a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), and European cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea). Image credit: Mauricio Anton.

Study: Neanderthals, Woolly Mammoths Shared Genetic Traits

Apr 10, 2019 by News Staff

Neanderthals and woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) co-existed in similar geographic and environmental European settings during the Middle and Upper...