Genetics News

Yiddish Language was Invented by Slavo-Iranian Jewish Merchants, Scientists Say

Ashkenazi Jews of 19th century Eastern Europe portrayed in Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur, by Maurycy Gottlieb, 1878 (from Jewish Art, p. 199).
Apr 19, 2016 by News Staff

A new tool called the Geographic Population Structure (GPS), which converts DNA data into its ancestral coordinates, has pinpointed origin of Yiddish speakers, according to a team of researchers led by Dr. Eran Elhaik of the University of Sheffield, UK. Ashkenazi Jews of 19th century Eastern Europe portrayed in Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur, by Maurycy Gottlieb, 1878 (from Jewish Art, p. 199). The Slavic Yiddish (now called universally...

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Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Genetic Scientists Complete First Analysis of Neanderthal Y Chromosome

Apr 8, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Neanderthal Y-chromosome genes disappeared from the genome of modern humans long ago, suggests a new study published this week in the American Journal...

The Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla ssp. gorilla). Image credit: Jack Hynes / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Western Lowland Gorilla Genome Mapped with New Level of Accuracy

Apr 1, 2016 by News Staff

The genome of the Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla ssp. gorilla) has been sequenced at a high level of quality beginning to approach that of the...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Scientists Produce Map of Neanderthal, Denisovan Ancestry in Present-Day Humans

Mar 29, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Dr. David Reich from Harvard Medical School and his colleagues have produced a world map of Denisovan and Neanderthal ancestry in 120 diverse populations....

This electron micrograph shows particles of the Phoenix provirus resurrected from human DNA in 2006. Scale bar - 200 nm (Marie Dewannieux et al).

Nineteen New Pieces of Ancient Retroviral DNA Found in Human Genome

Mar 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Nineteen previously unidentified pieces of non-human DNA — left by retroviruses that first infected human ancestors hundreds of thousands of years...

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

Denisovan DNA Found in Modern-Day Melanesians

Mar 18, 2016 by News Staff

Residents of the Pacific islands of Melanesia share fragments of genetic code with two early human species: Denisovans, whose remains were found in Siberia,...

Sima de los Huesos hominins lived in what is now Spain about 400,000 years ago. Image credit: © Kennis & Kennis / Madrid Scientific Films.

Sima de los Huesos Hominins Were Actually Early Neanderthals, Say Anthropologists

Mar 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The first analysis of nuclear DNA from Sima de los Huesos hominins, conducted by Dr. Matthias Meyer of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology...

At the top are shown drawings illustrating the seven hair features examined in this study; thick lines connect these features with the candidate genes identified in regions with single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) reaching genome-wide significant association. At the bottom is shown a composite Manhattan plot displaying all significantly associated SNPs for the hair features examined; the rs number of the SNP with the smallest P value is shown at the top of each association peak. Image credit: Kaustubh Adhikari et al., doi: 10.1038/ncomms10815.

Researchers Identify Gene for Gray Hair: IRF4

Mar 1, 2016 by News Staff

The first gene identified for graying hair has been discovered by an international team of researchers. At the top are shown drawings illustrating the...

This is an illustrated rendition of two male glyptodonts (Doedicurus clavicaudatus); massive, club-shaped tails were probably used more for intraspecific combat than defense against predators. Image credit: Peter Schouten.

Researchers Sequence Mitochondrial Genome of Glyptodont

Feb 23, 2016 by Natali Anderson

An international group of scientists has successfully sequenced the whole mitochondrial genome of the ancient glyptodont – a heavily armored herbivorous...

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

Scientists: Neanderthals Mated with Humans 100,000 Years Ago

Feb 17, 2016 by News Staff

A multinational group of researchers has found strong genetic evidence of an interbreeding event between Neanderthals and anatomically modern Homo sapiens...

A model of a Neanderthal man. Image credit: H. Neumann / Neanderthal Museum.

Neanderthal-Derived DNA Has Significant Impact on Modern Human Traits

Feb 12, 2016 by News Staff

A large team of scientists led by Vanderbilt University geneticist John Capra has found surprising correlations between Neanderthal-derived DNA and disease...

The study supports a single and rapid dispersal of all non-Africans populations around 50,000 years ago not only across Asia but also into Europe. Image credit: Annette Guenzel / Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Pre-Neolithic DNA Suggests Major Late Glacial Population Turnover in Europe

Feb 5, 2016 by News Staff

DNA evidence lifted from the bones and teeth of hunter-gatherers who lived in Europe from 35,000 years ago (Late Pleistocene) to 7,000 years ago (early...

A close-up of the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius). Image credit: Armed Forces Pest Management Bureau.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Common Bed Bug

Feb 2, 2016 by News Staff

A large multinational team of scientists has successfully sequenced the whole genome of the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius), uncovering several traits...

The great tit (Parus major). Image credit: Koos Dansen.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Great Tit

Feb 1, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists, led by Dr. Veronika Laine from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and Dr. Martien Groenen from Wageningen University,...

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

Study: Domestication of Dogs May Have Caused Harmful Genetic Changes

Jan 12, 2016 by News Staff

According to a study published last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, dog domestication may have caused harmful genetic changes. Canadian...

The study increases the total number of POAG-related genes to 15. Image credit: National Eye Institute.

Scientists Discover New Genes Related to Glaucoma

Jan 12, 2016 by News Staff

Work done by Dr Jessica Cooke Bailey of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and co-authors has led to the discovery of three genes that...

Neanderthal. Image credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

Neanderthal DNA Gave Humans Allergies, Immunity Boost

Jan 8, 2016 by News Staff

Interbreeding of anatomically modern Homo sapiens with Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) around 40,000 years ago may have left humans with gene variants...

Reconstruction of Ballynahatty Neolithic skull by Elizabeth Black. Her genes tell us she had black hair and brown eyes. Image credit: Barrie Hartwell.

Ancient Genomes from Ireland Sequenced for the First Time

Dec 30, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

A large team of researchers reported this week that it had sequenced the whole genomes of four prehistoric Irish individuals: a Neolithic woman (3343 –...

Heatmap of gradient of expression of M1 and M3 spanning fetal development to late adulthood and in topographically distinct cortical regions: A1C - auditory cortex; AMY - amygdala; CBC - cerebellar cortex; DFC - dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; HIP - hippocampus; IPC - posterior inferior parietal cortex; ITC - inferior temporal cortex; M1C - primary motor cortex; MD - mediodorsal nucleus of thalamus; MFC - medial prefrontal cortex; OFC - orbital prefrontal cortex; S1C - primary somatosensory cortex; STC - superior temporal cortex; STR - striatum; V1C - primary visual cortex; VFC - ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Image credit: Michael R. Johnson et al, doi: 10.1038/nn.4205.

Researchers Identify Intelligence Gene Networks

Dec 22, 2015 by News Staff

A group of scientists led by Imperial College London researcher Michael Johnson has identified two ‘gene networks’ associated with human cognitive...

The arowana (Scleropages sp.). Image credit: Marcel Burkhard / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Asian Arowana

Dec 21, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from Malaysia and Australia has successfully sequenced the genome of a famous ornamental fish species called the Asian...

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