Genetic Archaeology News - October 2007 Archives

Researchers sniff out gene that gives dogs black fur (10/31/2007)

A discovery about the genetics of coat color in dogs could help explain why humans come in different weights and vary in our abilities to cope with stress, a team led by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine reports. ...> Full Article

Secrets Behind Butterfly Wing Patterns Uncovered (10/30/2007)

The genes that make a fruit fly's eyes red also produce red wing patterns in the Heliconius butterfly found in South and Central America, finds a new study by a UC Irvine entomologist. ...> Full Article

Scientists alter sexual orientation in worms (10/29/2007)

Biologists genetically manipulated nematode worms so the animals were attracted to worms of the same sex - part of a study that shows sexual orientation is wired in the creatures' brains. ...> Full Article

In-group Altruism And Hostility Toward Outsiders Evolved Together (10/29/2007)

SFI researcher Samuel Bowles and colleague Jung-Kyoo Choi of Kyungpook National University in South Korea suggest that the altruistic and warlike aspects of human nature may have a common origin. ...> Full Article

Colorful View For First Land Animals (10/28/2007)

When prehistoric fish made their first forays onto land, what did they see? According to a study published in the online open access journal, BMC Evolutionary Biology, it's likely that creatures venturing out of the depths viewed their new environment in full colour. ...> Full Article

Predators and Parasites May Increase Evolutionary Stability (10/28/2007)

A new study explores the role of natural enemies, such as predators and parasites, for mixed mating, a reproductive strategy in which hermaphroditic plants and animals reproduce through both self- and cross-fertilization. The findings highlight the possible evolutionary consequences of these interactions. ...> Full Article

Evidence Of Same-sex Mating In Nature (10/27/2007)

Cryptococcus neoformans is a major cause of fungal meningitis in predominantly immunocomprised individuals. ...> Full Article

Ancient DNA Reveals That Some Neanderthals Were Redheads (10/27/2007)

Ancient DNA retrieved from the bones of two Neanderthals suggests that at least some of them had red hair and pale skin, scientists report in the journal Science. The international team says that Neanderthals' pigmentation may even have been as varied as that of modern humans, and that at least 1 percent of Neanderthals were likely redheads. ...> Full Article

Researchers posit new ideas about human migration from Asia to Americas (10/26/2007)

Questions about human migration from Asia to the Americas have perplexed anthropologists for decades, but as scenarios about the peopling of the New World come and go, the big questions have remained. Do the ancestors of Native Americans derive from only a small number of "founders" who trekked to the Americas via the Bering land bridge? How did their migration to the New World proceed? What, if anything, did the climate have to do with their migration? And what took them so long? ...> Full Article

Why Sex Chromosomes Evolve So Rapidly (10/24/2007)

In animals with separate sexes, embryos commit to becoming male or female at an early stage. Often this key decision is made by sex determination genes on the sex chromosomes. The genes involved in sexual development have changed remarkably little during evolution. In contrast, the sex determination genes and the sex chromosomes themselves are among the most rapidly changing features of the genome. ...> Full Article

Consortium Publishes Phase II Map of Human Genetic Variation (10/23/2007)

Scientists published analyses of its second-generation map of human genetic variation, which contains three times more markers than the initial version unveiled in 2005. ...> Full Article

Bacteria Use Plant Defence for Genetic Modification (10/23/2007)

Bacteria that cause tumours in plants modify plant genomes by skilfully exploiting the plants' first line of defence. ...> Full Article

Scientists map out first Asian genome (10/22/2007)

Scientists have successfully completed the first sequence map of the diploid genome of an Asian individual. ...> Full Article

Key Found To Moonlight Romance On The Reef (10/22/2007)

Researchers have discovered what could be the aphrodisiac for the biggest moonlight sex event on Earth. ...> Full Article

Neandertals, Humans Share Key Changes To 'Language Gene' (10/21/2007)

A new study reveals that adaptive changes in a human gene involved in speech and language were shared by our closest extinct relatives, the Neandertals. The finding reveals that the human form of the gene arose much earlier than scientists had estimated previously. It also raises the possibility that Neandertals possessed some of the prerequisites for language. ...> Full Article

Mice Roar Message: Genetic Change Happens Fast (10/21/2007)

While looks can be deceiving, heredity is revealing, and two scientists who've studied the genetic makeup of a common field mouse report that what's most revealing to them is how fast both genes and morphology can change. ...> Full Article

Researchers caution against genetic ancestry testing (10/20/2007)

For many Americans, the potential to track one's DNA to a specific country, region or tribe with a take-home kit is highly alluring. But while the popularity of genetic ancestry testing is rising - particularly among African Americans - the technology is flawed and could spawn unwelcome societal consequences, according to researchers from several institutions nationwide. ...> Full Article

Massive Reanalysis Of Genome Data Solves Case Of The Lethal Genes (10/20/2007)

It is better to be looked over than overlooked, Mae West supposedly said. These are words of wisdom for genome data-miners of today. Data that goes unnoticed, despite its widespread availability, can reveal extraordinary insights to the discerning eye. ...> Full Article

Researcher discovers binocular vision gene (10/19/2007)

A team of researchers have identified an important gene responsible for binocular vision. ...> Full Article

New Resequencing Technology Accelerates Discovery Of Subtle DNA Variations (10/19/2007)

A new technology will allow researchers to more easily discover subtle and overlooked genetic variations that may have serious consequences for health and disease. ...> Full Article

Scientists spy enzyme that makes us unique (10/18/2007)

Have you ever wondered why you inherited your mother's smile but not your father's height? Researchers are one step closer to unravelling how nature combines both maternal and paternal DNA to create genetically unique offspring. ...> Full Article

Earliest Evolution of Vision Genes Discovered (10/17/2007)

'Opsin' genes found in aquatic relatives of corals, jellyfish, sea anemones ...> Full Article

Combining new gene chips with fast sequencing technology brings universal sequence a step closer (10/17/2007)

A new technique that combines gene chip technology with the latest generation of gene sequencing machines to allow fast and accurate sequencing of selected parts of the genome has been developed. ...> Full Article

Female Chromosome Confirmed A Prime Driver Of Speciation (10/17/2007)

Researchers believe they have just confirmed a controversial theory of evolution. The X chromosome is a strikingly powerful force in the origin of new species. ...> Full Article

Inconsistencies With Neanderthal Genomic DNA Sequences (10/15/2007)

Were Neanderthals direct ancestors of contemporary humans or an evolutionary side branch that eventually died out? ...> Full Article

The benefits of 80 million years without sex (10/13/2007)

Scientists have discovered how a microscopic organism has benefited from nearly 80 million years without sex. ...> Full Article

The difference between fish and humans (10/13/2007)

Scientists answer century old developmental question ...> Full Article

Scientists Sequence Genome of Soil-Dwelling Green Alga (10/12/2007)

Results have implications for understanding early evolutionary events ...> Full Article

Spread Of Endogenous Retrovirus K Is Similar In The DNA Of Humans And Rhesus Monkeys (10/11/2007)

According to paleontologic and molecular studies, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is the closer relative to the humans (Homo sapiens) and that both lineages had a common ancestor at 5 to 7 million years ago. ...> Full Article

Environmental Setting of Human Migrations in the Circum-Pacific Region (10/11/2007)

A new study adds insight into the migration of anatomically modern humans out of Africa and into Asia less than 100,000 years before present (BP). ...> Full Article

A gene divided reveals details of natural selection (10/11/2007)

In a molecular tour de force, researchers have provided an exquisitely detailed picture of natural selection as it occurs at the genetic level. ...> Full Article

Plant viruses from past provide ecological clues (10/10/2007)

Taking the medical history of a grassland may seem a bit esoteric – after all, how sick can grass be? However, scientists have discovered plant viruses from as early as 1917 containing information crucial not only for plant scientists, but for those in ecology, human health and bioterrorism. ...> Full Article

Which Came First, the Chicken Genome or the Egg Genome? (10/9/2007)

Researchers have answered a similarly vexing (and far more relevant) genomic question: Which of the thousands of long stretches of repeated DNA in the human genome came first? And which are the duplicates? ...> Full Article

Synchrotron Light to Reveal How Early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals Grew Up (10/9/2007)

An team of researchers is working together in Grenoble (France) to study the teeth of some famous fossil children, which will reveal if different species of humans experienced similar timings of maturation and reproduction. ...> Full Article

DNA sequencer first of its kind in Southern Hemisphere (10/8/2007)

A next-generation DNA sequencer now installed in Australian will enable scientists to analyze DNA 100 times faster than previously. ...> Full Article

Evolution Transforms 'Junk' DNA into Genetic Machinery (10/6/2007)

Evolution has mastered the art of turning trash to treasure - though, for scientists, witnessing the transformation can require a bit of patience. In new genetic research, scientists have traced the 170 million-year evolution of a piece of "junk" DNA to its modern incarnation as an important regulator of energy balance in mammals. ...> Full Article

Living fossils have hot sex (10/5/2007)

Primitive Plants Use Heat and Odor to Woo Pollinating Insects ...> Full Article

Researchers devise way to calculate rates of evolution (10/5/2007)

"Survival of the fittest" has popularly described evolution for more than a century, but a new study published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters provides further evidence that random genetic mutations over millions of years may also play a powerful role. ...> Full Article

Genetic differences in clover make one type toxic (10/4/2007)

Botanical "cloak and dagger" ...> Full Article

Census of protein architectures offers new view of history of life (10/4/2007)

The present can tell you a lot about the past, but you need to know where to look. A new study appearing this month in Genome Research reveals that protein architectures - the three-dimensional structures of specific regions within proteins - provide an extraordinary window on the history of life. ...> Full Article

In dogs, a shortcut to mapping disease genes (10/2/2007)

Genomic tool may accelerate studies of dog diseases, many of which also affect humans ...> Full Article

Three-way mating game of North American lizard found in distant European relative (10/2/2007)

An intricate three-way mating struggle first observed in a species of North American lizard has been discovered in a distant relative, the European common lizard. The two species are separated by 5,000 miles and 175 million years of evolution, yet they share behavioral and reproductive details right down to the gaudy colors of the males. ...> Full Article

Does The Victim Affect Snake Venom Composition? (10/1/2007)

A snake's intended prey might affect the type and evolution of toxins in their venom, research published in BMC Evolutionary Biology shows. ...> Full Article