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Black death and the development of immune genes

The Black Death, which wiped off up to 50% of the European population in less than five years, was the single-worst mortality catastrophe in recorded history.

21 Oct 2022

Meiotic drive systems can be maintained for long evolutionary timespans

Meiotic drivers, which are a sort of selfish gene, are, in fact, selfish. They are found in nearly all species’ genomes, including humans, and unfairly convey their genetic information to more than half of their offspring, resulting in infertility and impaired organism health.

21 Oct 2022

Saving ocean habitats with newer genomic technologies

In an essay published on October 17th, 2022 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, Madeleine van Oppen of the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the University of Melbourne and Melinda Coleman of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries argue that genetic and genomic technologies have tremendous potential for protecting marine life but are currently underutilized.

20 Oct 2022

Large 'omics' dataset reveals a year in the biological life of Arctic Ocean

A major new project will help benchmark biodiversity change in the Arctic Ocean and guide conservation efforts by identifying unique species and assessing their extinction risk.

18 Oct 2022

Dynamic oxygen levels could have accelerated the development of early animal life

Oxygen levels in the Earth's atmosphere are likely to have "fluctuated wildly" one billion years ago, creating conditions that could have accelerated the development of early animal life, according to new research.

17 Oct 2022

Two endemic Ochrosia species turn out to be kindred strangers

When classifying two species of the same flowering plant, the similarities and differences between them are considered.

13 Oct 2022

Genetic speciation method to make new hybrid species

The evolution of a new species by hybridization from two already described species without a change in chromosome number is very rare in the animal kingdom.

12 Oct 2022

Distinct roles of aging and genetics on expression phenotypes

Research conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, found that individual distinctions in human DNA matter less as people age and become more susceptible to aging disorders like diabetes and cancer.

10 Oct 2022

Insights into the evolution of banana domestication

People on the island of New Guinea are said to have domesticated bananas 7,000 years ago. However, the history of banana domestication is convoluted, and their categorization is widely discussed, as the boundaries between species and subspecies are frequently ambiguous.

10 Oct 2022

New insight into human genome evolution

Researchers discovered that in one out of every 4,000 births, some of the genetic code from the mitochondria—the “batteries” that power human cells—inserts itself into the DNA, giving a startling new insight into how humans evolve.

6 Oct 2022

Machine learning can predict the biological properties of Earth's most abundant enzyme

A Newcastle University study has for the first time shown that machine learning can predict the biological properties of the most abundant enzyme on Earth - Rubisco.

From Newcastle University 3 Oct 2022

Study helps understand how animals adapt and survive in freshwater

The ability to regulate salt and water balance is a significant challenge for animals living in freshwater habitats worldwide.

3 Oct 2022

Newly isolated Bacteroides likely to be present in mammals beyond mice

In the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1182 “Origin and Function of Metaorganisms,” scientists from Kiel University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön (MPI-EB) are investigating the evolutionary history and function of Bacteroides.

From The Max Planck Institute 30 Sep 2022

Researchers use zebrafish larvae to study how the brain reacts to warmer temperatures

Which organisms survive and which succumb when the climate changes? A small larval fish is providing surprising insight into how the brain reacts when the temperature rises.

30 Sep 2022

Genome of the earliest common ancestor of all mammals identified

From a platypus to a blue whale, all living mammals today are derived from a single ancestor that existed around 180 million years ago. Although nothing much is known about this species, an international team of experts has now computationally rebuilt how its DNA is organized.

From The University of California, Davis 28 Sep 2022

Cryo-EM solves the decades-old mystery of bacterial movement

Scientists from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and their colleagues have discovered a decades-old mystery regarding how E. coli and other bacteria move.

28 Sep 2022

Structure of family groups gives animals an incentive to help or harm as they age

The structure of family groups gives animals an incentive to help or harm their social group as they age, new research shows.

From University of Exeter 27 Sep 2022

Carp virus provides significant insights into immunology

In an article published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, the team led by Prof. Alain Vanderplasschen, a virologist and immunologist at the University of Liège, describes 10 years of research on how a carp virus uses a protein domain called Zalpha (Zα) to inhibit the host cell’s defense mechanisms.

26 Sep 2022

An analysis of old genes’ influence on sea anemones

For the neuronal cell types’ categorization as more complicated creatures, the genetic fingerprint of Nematostella vectensis—the sea anemone—reveals that the members of this evolutionarily very ancient animal phylum employ identical gene cascades.

22 Sep 2022

Researchers analyze how clusters of molecules meet inside cells

A developing area studies how clusters of molecules gather inside of cells, similar to how oil droplets form and separate from the water in a vinaigrette.

From New York University (NYU) 15 Sep 2022