Genetics News

White Oak Genome Sequenced

The Quercus alba individual sequenced for the genome assembly, growing at Star Hill Farm, Loretto, , Kentucky, the United States. Image credit: D. Larson.
Feb 25, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Scientists have produced the first chromosome-scale genome assembly of the white oak (Quercus alba), an abundant forest tree species across eastern North America that is ecologically, culturally, and economically important. The Quercus alba individual sequenced for the genome assembly, growing at Star Hill Farm, Loretto, , Kentucky, the United States. Image credit: D. Larson. “Oaks are important members of ecosystems throughout much of the world,”...

read more...
The distribution area and sampling sites of the Chinese and Malayan pangolins. Image credit: Lan et al., doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giaf003.

Scientists Sequence Genomes of Chinese and Malayan Pangolins

Feb 14, 2025 by News Staff

Researchers from Guangdong Academy of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University and their colleagues have assembled chromosome-scale genomes for two critically...

Vignale et al. report the first draft genome sequence for yerba mate and provide convincing evidence for the identity and characteristics of enzymes for caffeine biosynthesis. Image credit: Ilosuna / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Yerba Mate Genome Sequenced

Feb 3, 2025 by Natali Anderson

An international team of scientists has sequenced the genome of the yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis), an economically important crop marketed for the elaboration...

Brown et al. present the chromosome-scale assembly of the 20.3 Gb genome of the Iberian ribbed newt (Pleurodeles waltl), with a unprecedented contiguity and completeness among giant genomes. Image credit: Brown et al., doi: 10.1016/j.xgen.2025.100761.

Biologists Sequence Iberian Ribbed Newt Genome at High Resolution

Jan 30, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Aquatic, tailed amphibians called newts have large genomes harboring many repeat elements. How these elements shape the genome and relate to newts’ unique...

Map of the geographical locations of the ancient individuals in the study and timeline showing the dates of the individuals in archaeological groups. Image credit: Saag et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adr0695.

Ancient DNA Analysis Reveals Diverse Range of Ancestries in Ukraine Through Time

Jan 14, 2025 by Natali Anderson

To study migration and mobility history in the Ukraine region, with a particular focus on migrating groups during the Iron Age and the Medieval period,...

An anatomical illustration from Johannes Sobotta’s Human Anatomy, 1908.

New Study Highlights Role of Gene Expression in Human Brain Evolution

Jan 2, 2025 by News Staff

University of California, Santa Barbara’s Professor Soojin Yi and colleagues aimed to determine how genes in different types of brain cells have evolved...

Guo et al. confirmed the distinct taxonomic position of Hainan tea within Camellia sinensis, providing valuable insights for resource conservation and molecular breeding. Image credit: Lin2015.

Hainan Island’s Tea Plants Are Unique Variety of Camellia sinensis: Study

Jan 2, 2025 by News Staff

Tea (Camellia sinensis), originating in China over 3,000 years ago, has transitioned from a medicinal herb to a widely consumed beverage. Despite considerable...

By analyzing the variation of FAAs among 339 tea accessions in two years, we can know that the determined components of FAAs including arginine, glutamine, glutamate, alanine, and theanine with the highest diversity index differed among different genetic resources and intraspecific accessions. Meanwhile, their amounts in Camellia sinensis were all significantly higher than in the wild relatives. The study confirmed the significant opposite trend between chlorophyll and FAA profiles. Image credit: Sci.News.

New Research Sheds More Light on Genetic Makeup of Tea

Dec 26, 2024 by News Staff

Free amino acids (FAAs) positively determine the tea quality, notably theanine, endowing umami taste of tea infusion. However, their concentrations vary...

El Sidron Neanderthals taste wild mushrooms, pine nuts and forest moss. Image credit: Abel Grau, CSIC Communication.

Scientists Identify Genetic Variants that Determine Tooth Shape

Dec 17, 2024 by News Staff

One of these genetic variants was inherited from Neanderthals, according to a study led by University College London researchers. El Sidron Neanderthals...

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

Study: Neanderthal Gene Flow into Modern Humans Occurred between 50,500 and 43,500 Years Ago

Dec 13, 2024 by News Staff

In a genomic study encompassing more than 300 genomes, researchers determined the time period during which Neanderthals interbred with modern humans, starting...

Illustration of the Zlatý kůň/Ranis group. Image credit: Tom Björklund / Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Earliest Modern Human Genomes Decoded

Dec 12, 2024 by News Staff

Scientists have sequenced and analyzed the genomes of seven individuals who lived between 42,000 and 49,000 years ago in Ranis, Germany and Zlatý kůň,...

Transgenic hybrid poplar with increased expression levels of BSTR enhanced photosynthesis efficiency and biomass under greenhouse conditions. Image credit: Feyissa et al., doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2024.11.002.

Newly-Discovered Gene Enhances Photosynthetic Efficiency and Plant Productivity

Dec 4, 2024 by News Staff

Biologists have identified a new gene in California poplar trees (Populus trichocarpa) — named BOOSTER — that enhances photosynthesis and can...

Prehistoric Central European women’s manual labor was tougher than rowing in today’s boat crews.

Study: Central Europe’s First Farmers Lived in Equality 8,000 Years Ago

Nov 29, 2024 by News Staff

The Linear Pottery Culture (Linearbandkeramik, LBK) communities, which were the first to spread farming across large parts of Europe, showed no signs of...

Kuitems et al. provide evidence that the Norse were active on the North American continent in the year 1021 CE. Image credit: Oscar C.R.

Viking Expansion into North Atlantic Was More Complex than Previously Thought

Nov 25, 2024 by News Staff

The Vikings played a preeminent role in the peopling of the North Atlantic, and one might expect populations that were founded by them to be genetically...

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

Several Denisovan Populations Introgressed into Modern Humans Multiple Times: Study

Nov 8, 2024 by News Staff

The identification of a new hominin group called Denisovans was one of the most exciting discoveries in human evolution in the last decade. Unlike Neanderthal...

Arabidopsis thaliana. Image credit: Carl Davies, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0.

Scientists Investigate Inner Workings of DNA Methylation in Plants

Nov 6, 2024 by News Staff

DNA methylation is one of several epigenetic mechanisms crucial for regulating gene expression in eukaryotic organisms. Arabidopsis thaliana. Image credit:...

The versatility of somatosensation arises from heterogeneous dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. However, soma transcriptomes of individual human (h)DRG neurons -- critical information to decipher their functions -- are lacking due to technical difficulties. In their new study, Yu et al. isolated somata from individual hDRG neurons and conducted deep RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to detect, on average, over 9,000 unique genes per neuron, and they identified 16 neuronal types.

Neuroscientists Identify 16 Neuronal Types Involved in Human Sense of Touch

Nov 6, 2024 by News Staff

New research led by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, Karolinska Institute and Linköping University provides a landscape view of the human...

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus). Image credit: William Curtis / The Botanical Magazine.

Scientists Publish Chromosome-Scale Reference Genome of Grass Pea

Nov 1, 2024 by News Staff

A research team led by John Innes Centre scientists has sequenced and annotated the chromosome-scale genome assembly of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus), a...

The spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus). Image credit: CSIRO.

Spotted Handfish Genome Sequenced

Oct 8, 2024 by News Staff

A team of researchers at CSIRO has decoded the genome of the spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus), a critically endangered species of marine fish...

These 3,500-year-old kefir cheese samples are among the few dairy remains preserved more than 3,000 years and were produced by the Bronze Age Xiaohe population -- a population that possesses mixed lifestyles and techniques (e.g., farming, dairy production, hunting, etc.). Also, although early Xiaohe individuals show little genetic interaction with other populations, mitochondrial DNA data suggest maternal connections with East and West Eurasians. By recovering DNA information from ancient fermented dairy remains, Liu et al. investigated the lifestyle linked to the usage of fermented dairy by the Xiaohe population and explore the co-evolution between the fermented bacteria and their hosts. Image credit: Liu et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.008.

World’s Oldest Cheese Sheds Light on Origins of Kefir

Sep 25, 2024 by News Staff

Despite the long history of consumption of fermented dairy, little is known about how the fermented microbes were utilized and evolved over human history....

© 2011-2026. Sci.News. All Rights Reserved. | Back to top