Genetics

A research team led by American University scientists has sequenced the genome of the thermophilic subterrestrial nematode Halicephalobus mephisto, one of the deepest living animals, and determined the mechanisms by which the nematode adapted to an extreme environment. Halicephalobus mephisto (magnified 200x). Image credit: John Bracht, American University. Halicephalobus mephisto …

Genetic variants determine whether or not you can tolerate eating certain vegetables, according to new research. TAS2R38 predicted lower consumption of vegetables in people who possessed the PAV haplotype. Image credit: Jerzy Górecki. “Taste matters when it comes to altering your diet. If you aren’t appealing to your tastes when …

Horizontal gene transfer from soil bacteria to algae allowed early life to move to land, according to new research. Cheng et al report genome sequences and analyses of two early diverging Zygnematophyceae species, Spirogloea muscicola and Mesotaenium endlicherianum, that share the same subaerial/terrestrial habitat with the earliest-diverging embryophytes, the bryophytes. …

  Life on Earth uses DNA and RNA to store and utilize genetic information, but what if there’s another way? A new analysis from researchers at Emory University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology suggests a plethora of molecules could serve the same basic task of organizing and storing genetic …

The earliest ancestors of anatomically modern Homo sapiens emerged in a region south of the Zambezi River in Botswana, Africa, according to a new analysis of modern human’s mitochondrial genomes (mtDNA or mitogenome) from the L0 lineage, the oldest known mtDNA lineage on Earth. Ancient humans. Image credit: sjs.org / …

As part of the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes (1KP) Initiative, an international consortium of scientists has sequenced transcriptomes — the set of genes that is actively expressed — of 1,124 plant species to shine a light on one-billion-year history of green plants. Diversity within the family Viridiplantae: (a-e) green algae …

  One of the most interesting questions of hominin evolution is exactly how much of our vanished cousins remains in us. Between 1-4 percent of the modern human genome is derived from Neanderthals everywhere but sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, between 4-6 percent of the modern Melanesian genome has been shown …

The Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus), also known as the thylacine, was a carnivorous marsupial found throughout most of Tasmania before European settlement in 1803. The animal had tiger-like stripes running down its lower back and an abdominal pouch, but was perhaps best known for its wolf-like body. Despite sharing a …

A team of scientists from King’s College London, University College London and the University of Manchester has identified 44 genes linked to age-related hearing loss. Wells et al performed genome-wide association studies for two self-reported hearing phenotypes, using more than 250,000 UK Biobank volunteers aged between 40 and 69 years. …

A team of Australian scientists has successfully completed an integrated genomic characterization of a reef-building coral species called Porites lutea and its microbial partners (bacteria, Archaea, algae etc.). Schematic overview of interactions between Porites lutea and its microbial symbionts. Image credit: Robbins et al, doi: 10.1038/s41564-019-0532-4. “Symbiotic relationships are incredibly …