Genetic Archaeology News

Darwin's mystery of the Falkland Islands wolf likely solved

Sunday, November 15, 2009 00:00 MST

Using DNA evidence, UCLA biologists have solved a mystery that dates back to Charles Darwin: How can a wolf-like animal the size of a Labrador retriever end up on an island in sufficient numbers that a new population emerges and evolves into a new species?

Why can't chimps speak?

Saturday, November 14, 2009 00:00 MST

If humans are genetically related to chimps, why did our brains develop the innate ability for language and speech while theirs did not? Scientists suspect that part of the answer to the mystery lies in a gene called FOXP2. When mutated, FOXP2 can disrupt speech and language in humans. Now, a UCLA/Emory study reveals major differences between how the human and chimp versions of FOXP2 work, perhaps explaining why language is unique to humans.

Africa's rarest monkey had an intriguing sexual past, DNA study confirms

Friday, November 13, 2009 00:00 MST

The most extensive DNA study to-date of Africa's rarest monkey reveals that the species had an intriguing sexual past. Of the last two remaining populations of the recently discovered kipunji, one population shows evidence of past mating with baboons while the other does not, says a new study in Biology Letters. The results may help to set conservation priorities for this critically endangered species, researchers say.

What is the meaning of 'one'?

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 00:00 MST

Rice University evolutionary biologists David Queller and Joan Strassmann argue in a new paper that high cooperation and low conflict between components, from the genetic level on up, give a living thing its "organismality," whether that thing is an animal, a plant, a bacteria or a colony.

The bizarre lives of bone-eating worms

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 00:00 MST

Female Osedax marine worms feast on submerged bones via a complex relationship with symbiotic bacteria, and they are turning out to be far more diverse and widespread than scientists expected. Californian researchers have found that up to twelve further distinct evolutionary lineages exist beyond the five species already described. The new findings about these beautiful sea creatures with unusual sexual and digestive habits are published today in the online open access journal BMC Biology.

Map of human bacterial diversity shows wide interpersonal differences

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 00:00 MST

A University of Colorado at Boulder team has developed the first atlas of bacterial diversity across the human body, charting wide variations in microbe populations that live in different regions of the human body and which aid us in physiological functions that contribute to our health.

Scientists propose a 'genome zoo' of 10,000 vertebrate species

Monday, November 09, 2009 00:00 MST

In the most comprehensive study of animal evolution ever attempted, an international consortium of scientists plans to assemble a genomic zoo -- a collection of DNA sequences for 10,000 vertebrate species, approximately one for every vertebrate genus.

The entwined destinies of mankind and leprosy bacteria

Sunday, November 08, 2009 00:00 MST

Leprosy still affects hundreds of thousands of people today throughout the entire world. An international team headed by EPFL professor Stewart Cole has traced the history of the disease from ancient Egypt to today and in doing so has made a public health study essential for combating the disease.

New insights into Australia's unique platypus

Saturday, November 07, 2009 00:00 MST

New insights into the biology of the platypus and echidna have been published, providing a collection of unique research data about the world's only monotremes.

Study sheds light on evolution of human complexity

Friday, November 06, 2009 00:00 MST

A painstaking genomic and proteomic analysis has found a new evolutionary mechanism that accounts for some of the biological complexity of human beings. The Rice University scientists who found the mechanism say it helps humans cope with the consequences of inefficient natural selection. It fosters complexity by enabling human proteins to become more specialized over time. The research is available online and slated for December's print edition of Genome Research.

There's a speed limit to the pace of evolution, biologists say

Thursday, November 05, 2009 00:00 MST

A major conclusion of the work is that for some organisms, possibly including humans, continued evolution will not translate into ever-increasing fitness. Moreover, a population may accrue mutations at a constant rate ?- a pattern long considered the hallmark of "neutral" or non-Darwinian evolution -? even when the mutations experience Darwinian selection.

Similar molecular tweaks led both a shrew and a lizard to produce venom

Sunday, November 01, 2009 00:00 MST

Biologists have shown that independent but similar molecular changes turned a harmless digestive enzyme into a toxin in two unrelated species -- a shrew and a lizard -- giving each a venomous bite.

Bad driving may have genetic basis

Saturday, October 31, 2009 00:00 MST

People with gene variant perform more than 20 percent worse on driving test

The skeleton: Size matters

Friday, October 30, 2009 00:00 MST

It has long been known that the identity of each vertebra is due to the activation of a class of genes called "Hox." Now, in the latest issue of Developmental Cell researchers from the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia, in Portugal, the Institute KNAW and University Medical Center show that besides determining the identity of the vertebrae, Hox genes also have a say in how many are going to be formed at all.

Examining genetic variations among the Huichol population of Mexico

Thursday, October 29, 2009 00:00 MST

Mexican researchers examined the polymorphisms of three enzymes -- alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH1B), aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) and cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) -- in the Mestizo and Huichol groups. The Huichols, an indigenous group, had the highest CYP2E1*c2 allele frequency documented in the world. This high frequency, in conjunction with the absence of protective ADH1B and ALDH2 polymorphisms, may place the Huichols at particularly high genetic risk for alcoholism and alcoholic liver disease.