Genetics News

Mastodons were Far More Genetically Diverse than Previously Known, Ancient DNA Shows

An adult mastodon (Mammut sp.) consuming a spruce branch set against a backdrop illustrating their cyclical continental migrations linked to climate fluctuations. At least two species of mastodons roamed North America during the Middle and Late Pleistocene: the American mastodon, stretching from the eastern seaboard to central parts of the continent, and the Pacific mastodon from central Alberta through California. Image credit: Kathryn Killackey.
Sep 15, 2025 by News Staff

Ancient DNA has been useful in reconciling deep evolutionary relationships and responses to ecological changes in elephants and their relatives. In new research, scientists sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of several mastodons: five from Nova Scotia and the eastern seaboard, one of which may date to approximately 500,000 years ago, and for the first time, a unique specimen of a Pacific mastodon from Tualatin, Oregon, in addition to a partial mitochondrial...

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The Atlas blue butterfly (Polyommatus atlantica). Image credit: Roger Vila.

Atlas Blue Butterfly Has 229 Pairs of Chromosomes, Scientists Find

Sep 11, 2025 by News Staff

Scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva in Spain have sequenced the genome of a female Atlas blue butterfly...

Guinet et al. reconstructed partial genomes of Erysipelothrix from the oldest mammoth sample, representing the oldest authenticated host-associated microbial DNA to date. Image credit: Guinet et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.08.003.

World’s Oldest Host-Associated Microbial DNA Obtained from Ancient Mammoth Remains

Sep 4, 2025 by News Staff

In a new study, scientists analyzed ancient microbial DNA from 483 mammoth remains spanning over 1 million years, including 440 newly-sequenced and unpublished...

An artist’s concept of a Penghu Denisovan walking under the bright Sun during the Pleistocene of Taiwan. Image credit: Cheng-Han Sun.

Denisovan DNA May Have Helped Ancient Humans Survive in Americas

Aug 21, 2025 by News Staff

Thousands of years ago, ancient Homo sapiens undertook a treacherous journey, crossing hundreds of km of ice over the Bering Strait to the unknown world...

Torres et al. synthesized 80 archaeasins, 93% of which showed antimicrobial activity in vitro against Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus spp. Image credit: Torres et al., doi: 10.1038/s41564-025-02061-0.

AI Finds New Molecules with Potential Antimicrobial Activity in Archaea

Aug 12, 2025 by News Staff

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats facing humanity, making the need for new antibiotics more critical than ever. While most antibiotics...

Velazquez-Arcelay et al. found that genetic material from Neanderthal ancestors may have contributed to the propensity of some people today to be early risers, the sort of people who are more comfortable getting up and going to bed earlier. Image credit: Holger Neumann / Neanderthal Museum.

Study: Genetic Variant Inherited from Neanderthals Reduces Activity of Key Muscle Enzyme

Aug 12, 2025 by News Staff

The Neanderthal variant in AMPD1 decreases its enzymatic activity by 25% in lab-produced proteins and by up to 80% in the muscles of genetically engineered...

‘Tanzania’ sweetpotato variety. Image credit: Benard Yada, National Crops Resources Research Institute in Uganda.

Scientists Decode Genome of Sweetpotato

Aug 12, 2025 by News Staff

Researchers have produced a chromosome-level genome assembly for a sweetpotato cultivar called ‘Tanzania.’ ‘Tanzania’ sweetpotato variety. Image...

Interspecific hybridization may trigger species radiation by creating allele combinations and traits. Cultivated potato and its 107 wild relatives from the Petota lineage all share the distinctive trait of underground tubers, but the underlying mechanisms for tuberization and its relationship to extensive species diversification remain unclear. Through analyses of 128 genomes, including 88 haplotype-resolved genomes, Zhang et al. revealed that Petota is of ancient hybrid origin, with all members exhibiting stable mixed genomic ancestry, derived from the Etuberosum and Tomato lineages ca. 8-9 million years ago. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.06.034.

Potato Evolved from Tomato Plants 8-9 Million Years Ago, New Research Suggests

Aug 5, 2025 by News Staff

Interbreeding between tomato plants and potato-like species from South America about 8-9 million years ago gave rise to the modern-day potato (Solanum...

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

Serious Neurological Condition May Be Linked to Neanderthal Genes

Jul 22, 2025 by News Staff

Interbreeding between anatomically modern Homo sapiens and Neanderthals thousands of years ago may be responsible for Chiari Malformation Type 1, a serious...

Using ultra-deep sequencing of >300 blood samples from healthy individuals, we show that age-dependent methylation changes occur regionally across clusters of CpG sites either stochastically or in a coordinated block-like manner. Image credit: Ochana et al., doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115958.

Accurate Age Predictions are Possible Using as Few as 50 DNA Molecules: Study

Jul 15, 2025 by News Staff

Using deep learning networks analyzing DNA methylation patterns, scientists at Hebrew University achieved chronological age (defined as the amount of time...

Nebamun hunting in the marshes with his wife and daughter, part of a wall painting from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun, Thebes, New Kingdom, 1350 BC. Image credit: Werner Forman Archive / Bridgeman Images.

Researchers Sequence Whole Genome of Ancient Egyptian

Jul 2, 2025 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has sequenced the whole genome from an adult male Egyptian who lived between over 4,500 years ago — a few centuries...

A reconstruction of Homo longi in his habitat. Image credit: Chuang Zhao.

Harbin Fossil Belongs to Denisovan Population, Two New Studies Suggest

Jun 19, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The famous ‘Harbin cranium’ dates back to at least 146,000 years ago and was previously assigned to a new species, Homo longi. A reconstruction of...

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

Ancient DNA Study Traces Incredible Journey of Dogs across Americas

Jun 18, 2025 by News Staff

Pre-contact Central and South American dogs (Canis familiaris) — all dogs preceding contact with European settlers — descended from a single...

Paranthropus boisei. Image credit: © Roman Yevseyev.

Ancient Enamel Proteins Reveal Biological Sex and Genetic Variability in Paranthropus robustus

Jun 3, 2025 by News Staff

Paranthropus robustus is a well-documented hominin species with no genetic evidence reported so far. It lived between 2 million and 1.2 million years ago...

Johns et al. identified a single locus controlling prickle-free canes. Image credit: Gerardo Antonio Romero.

Scientists Identify Genetic Region Responsible for Prickle-Free Blackberry Canes

May 21, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Prickle-free blackberry (Rubus subgenus Rubus) canes are strongly preferred by growers due to food and worker safety concerns and damage to fruit from...

The sex-linked orange mutation in domestic cats causes variegated patches of reddish/yellow hair and is a defining signature of random X inactivation in female tortoiseshell and calico cats; unlike the situation for most coat color genes, there is no apparent homolog for sex-linked orange in other mammals; Kaelin et al. show that sex-linked orange is caused by a 5-kb deletion that leads to ectopic and melanocyte-specific expression of the Arhgap36 gene. Image credit: Kaelin et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.055.

Researchers Identify Genetic Mutation Responsible for Orange Coat in Domestic Cats

May 16, 2025 by News Staff

This mutation is located in the Rho GTPase Activating Protein 36 (Arhgap36) gene and appears to occur in no other mammal, according to a research team...

Illustration of a DNA molecule. Image credit: Christoph Bock, Max Planck Institute for Informatics / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Long-Distance Gene Control Appeared Over 650 Million Years Ago, Study Suggests

May 7, 2025 by News Staff

Distal regulation — the ability to control genes from far away, over many tens of thousands of DNA letters — appeared at the very dawn of animal...

Blackberries. Image credit: Lin Animalart.

Researchers Sequence Genome of Blackberry

Apr 30, 2025 by News Staff

Scientists at the University of Florida have generated the chromosome-scale genome assembly for the primocane-fruiting, thornless tetraploid blackberry...

The Malus evolutionary landscape based on phylogenomics. Image credit: Li et al., doi: 10.1038/s41588-025-02166-6.

New Genomic Analysis Reveals Evolution and Diversity of Apple Genus

Apr 24, 2025 by News Staff

Malus is a genus with over 35 species naturally distributed across the temperate northern hemisphere, from East Asia and Europe to North America. This...

Life reconstruction of the steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii). Image credit: Beth Zaiken / Centre for Palaeogenetics.

New Genomic Research Sheds More Light on Evolutionary History of Mammoths

Apr 10, 2025 by News Staff

Scientists have extracted and analyzed 34 new mammoth (Mammuthus spp.) mitochondrial genomes, including two Early Pleistocene and nine Middle Pleistocene...

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