Genetic Archaeology News Archives Page 1

New study changes conditions for Spanish brown bears (3/19/2008)

Brown bears from the Iberian Peninsula are not as genetically different from other brown bears in Europe as was previously thought. A new study shows that, on the contrary, the Spanish bear was only recently isolated from other European strains. These findings shed new light on the discussion of how to save the population of Spanish bears. ...> Full Article

Fungi can tell us about the origin of sex chromosomes (3/18/2008)

Fungi do not have sexes, just so-called mating types. A new study being published today in the prestigious journal PLoS shows that there are great similarities between the parts of DNA that determine the sex of plants and animals and the parts of DNA that determine mating types in certain fungi. This makes fungi interesting as new model organisms in studies of the evolutionary development of sex chromosomes. ...> Full Article

Researchers see history of life in the structure of transfer RNA (3/8/2008)

Transfer RNA is an ancient molecule, central to every task a cell performs and thus essential to all life. A new study from the University of Illinois indicates that it is also a great historian, preserving some of the earliest and most profound events of the evolutionary past in its structure. ...> Full Article

Biologists surprised to find parochial bacterial viruses (3/5/2008)

Intriguing find reveals more mysteries from Mexico's Cuatro Cienegas ...> Full Article

Major Mid-century Influenza Epidemics Caused By Novel Hybrid Viruses (3/5/2008)

Reassortment of the influenza A virus occurs frequently throughout its evolutionary history. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University and the National Institute of Health used an evolutionary analysis of influenza viruses sampled from 1918 -- 2005 to investigate the influenza viruses that cause seasonal epidemics in humans, particularly those where mortality was unusually high. ...> Full Article

Viruses Evolve To Play By Host Rules (3/4/2008)

Biologists have examined the complete genomes of viruses that infect the bacteria E. coli, P. aeruginosa and L. lactis and have found that many of these viral genomes exhibit codon bias, the tendency to preferentially encode a protein with a particular spelling. ...> Full Article

Monkey gene that blocks AIDS viruses evolved more than once (3/3/2008)

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a gene in Asian monkeys that may have evolved as a defense against lentiviruses, the group of viruses that includes HIV. The study, published February 29 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, suggests that AIDS is not a new epidemic. ...> Full Article

Tuatara evolving faster than any other species (3/2/2008)

New DNA research has questioned previous notions about the evolution of the tuatara. ...> Full Article

Study shows Darwin was wrong about the origins of chickens (3/2/2008)

A novel genetic study has revealed why chickens have yellow legs, demonstrating that though Charles Darwin was right about many things, his view on the origins of the chicken was not entirely correct. ...> Full Article

Honey bee invaders exploit the genetic resources of their predecessors (2/27/2008)

Like any species that aspires to rule the world, the honey bee, Apis mellifera, invades new territories in repeated assaults. A new study demonstrates that when these honey bees arrive in a place that has already been invaded, the newcomers benefit from the genetic endowment of their predecessors. ...> Full Article

Human family tree mapped out in new detail by genetic sequencing effort (2/24/2008)

Researchers have created the highest resolution map of human genetic diversity to date, providing insight into how groups of people throughout the world are related and adding weight to previous theories that humans originated from Africa. ...> Full Article

Lemur Family Tree Conclusively Mapped (2/23/2008)

Pre-Monkey's evolutionary history may shed light on our own ...> Full Article

Ancient 'Out of Africa' migration left stamp on European genetic diversity (2/22/2008)

Human migration from Africa to Europe more than 30,000 years ago appears to have left a mark on the genes of Europeans today. ...> Full Article

Researchers release most detailed global study of genetic variation (2/21/2008)

Scientists have produced the largest and most detailed worldwide study of human genetic variation, a treasure trove offering new insights into early migrations out of Africa and across the globe. ...> Full Article

Evolutionary History of SARS Supports Bats As Virus Source (2/20/2008)

Scientists who have studied the genome of the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) say their comparisons to related viruses offer new evidence that the virus infecting humans originated in bats. ...> Full Article

Genome of marine organism tells of animals' one-celled ancestors (2/15/2008)

The newly sequenced genome of a one-celled, planktonic marine organism, reported today (Thursday, Feb. 14) in the journal Nature, is already telling scientists about the evolutionary changes that accompanied the jump from one-celled life forms to multicellular animals like ourselves. ...> Full Article

Humans inhabited New World's doorstep for 20,000 years (2/14/2008)

The human journey from Asia to the New World was interrupted by a 20,000-year layover in Beringia, a once-habitable region that today lies submerged under the icy waters of the Bering Strait. ...> Full Article

Evolving complexity out of 'junk DNA' (2/13/2008)

'Junk DNA' could hold the secret of the evolutionary origin of complex animals, according to new research from Dartmouth College (NH, USA) and the University of Bristol (UK). ...> Full Article

Scientists rebuild ancient proteins to reveal primordial Earth's temperature (2/11/2008)

Using the genetic equivalent of an ancient thermometer, a team of scientists has determined that the Earth endured a massive cooling period between 500 million and 3.5 billion years ago. ...> Full Article

Unravelling the North West's Viking past (2/10/2008)

The blood of the Vikings is still coursing through the veins of men living in the North West of England ...> Full Article

The history of Central African Pygmy and Bantu-speaking farmer populations (2/9/2008)

Researchers studying the demographic and genetic history of Central African Pygmee and Bantus-speaking farmer populations, suggest that the two groups diverged 70,000 years ago. ...> Full Article

Mummy lice found in Peru may give new clues about human migration (2/8/2008)

Lice from 1,000-year-old mummies in Peru may unravel important clues about a different sort of passage: the migration patterns of America's earliest humans, a new University of Florida study suggests. ...> Full Article

Lion Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Has Undergone Substantial Genetic Recombination (2/7/2008)

Parts of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) isolated from wild lions have undergone substantial genetic recombination, says new research. The sequencing of the two full FIV genomes of different lion subtypes shows the importance of whole-genome analysis in understanding complex genetic events. These findings will be relevant to big cat conservation and developing more effective animal models for HIV. ...> Full Article

Avian origins: new analysis confirms ancient beginnings (2/6/2008)

Did modern birds originate around the time of the dinosaurs' demise, or have they been around far longer? ...> Full Article

Using DNA, scientists hunt for the roots of the modern potato (2/3/2008)

More than 99 percent of all modern potato varieties planted today are the direct descendents of varieties that once grew in the lowlands of south-central Chile. How Chilean germplasm came to dominate the modern potato-which spread worldwide from Europe-has been the subject of a long, contentious debate among scientists. ...> Full Article

Globetrotting Black Rat Genes Reveal Spread Of Humans And Diseases (2/2/2008)

DNA of the common Black Rat has shed light on the ancient spread of rats, people and diseases around the globe. Studying the mitochondrial DNA of 165 Black Rat specimens from 32 countries around the world, an international team of scientists has identified six distinct lineages in the Black Rat's family tree, each originating from a different part of Asia. ...> Full Article

You Are What You Eat: Some Differences Between Humans And Chimpanzees Traced To Diet (2/1/2008)

Using mice as models, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology traced some of the differences between humans and chimpanzees to differences in our diet. ...> Full Article

Blue-eyed humans have a single, common ancestor (1/31/2008)

New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today. ...> Full Article

Cats' Family Tree Rooted in Fertile Crescent, Study Confirms (1/30/2008)

The Fertile Crescent of the Middle East has long been identified as a "cradle of civilization" for humans. In a new genetic study, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have concluded that all ancestral roads for the modern day domestic cat also lead back to the same locale. ...> Full Article

Probing Question: Why are flowers beautiful? (1/28/2008)

Biologist studies the genetic roots of flowers ...> Full Article