All Articles Tagged As: chromosomes

Worldwide platypus study tracks 160 million years (5/9/2008)

A four-year international research project to sequence the entire genetic record of the platypus over the past 160 million years has revealed new insights into the biology of Australia's famous icon. ...> Full Article

Scientists reshape Y chromosome haplogroup tree gaining new insights into human ancestry (4/2/2008)

Scientists have utilized recently described genetic variations on the part of the Y chromosome that does not undergo recombination to significantly update and refine the Y chromosome haplogroup tree ...> 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

Geneticist Uses New Computational Methods to Search for a Neanderthal Legacy and for Disease Genes (1/20/2008)

Each year, Jurassic Park seems less like science fiction. Scientists are decoding woolly mammoth DNA. They also are decoding DNA from an extinct species much closer to us in genetic makeup - the Neanderthal. ...> Full Article

Evolution of the Sexes: What a Fungus Can Tell Us (1/10/2008)

Fungi don't exactly come in boy and girl varieties, but they do have sex differences. In fact, a new finding from Duke University Medical Center shows that some of the earliest evolved forms of fungus contain clues to how the sexes evolved in higher animals, including that distant cousin of fungus, the human. ...> Full Article

New Lab Method Detects DNA Damage in the Genome (12/13/2007)

In laboratory experiments using budding yeast, the same type used in baking and brewing, scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, developed a new approach to determine the location of unrepaired breaks in DNA. This new approach should better inform research as unrepaired DNA damage often underlies the development of cancer. The research findings appear in the December, 2007, issue of PloS Biology. ...> Full Article

Hotspots found for chromosome gene-swapping (11/30/2007)

Simple mechanism for making sure that all chromosomes, even the shortest ones, have the crossovers required for meiosis ...> Full Article

Bioclocks work by controlling chromosome coiling (11/26/2007)

There is a new twist on the question of how biological clocks work. ...> Full Article

Simple reason helps males evolve more quickly (11/17/2007)

The observation that males evolve more quickly than females has been around since 19th century biologist Charles Darwin noted the majesty of a peacock's tail feather in comparison with the plainness of the peahen's. ...> Full Article

All Male or All Female Litter? Sex-ratio Meiotic Drive System Identified In Fruit Flies (11/10/2007)

If you met a person who had 10 children, all of whom were girls, you would probably find this surprising. Yet this kind of distorted sex ratio does occur in groups as diverse as mammals, insects, and plants, where some parents consistently produce litters in which the sex ratio is dramatically skewed. ...> 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

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

Two proteins found on telomeres control DNA damage response pathways (8/11/2007)

No sooner had cells evolved linear chromosomes than they had a life-threatening problem to solve. To the machinery that repairs broken DNA, chromosome ends look a lot like breaks in need of mending, so they could elicit a DNA damage response that would ultimately be lethal to cells. Telomeres, segments of DNA that sit at the ends of chromosomes, resolve this situation by protecting chromosome ends from being mistaken for DNA breaks. Now, new research shows that two proteins work independently to repress - and control - the activation of damage response pathways that might otherwise cause chromosomes to be harmed. ...> Full Article

Sequencing Method Yields Fuller Picture (7/20/2007)

Sequence data for both chromosomes can be inferred under the right circumstances, USC biologists say. ...> Full Article

Important Secret In Gene Replication Uncovered (6/15/2007)

A team of researchers led by University of Virginia Health System geneticists has uncovered a major secret in the mystery of how the DNA helix replicates itself time after time. It turns out that it is not just the sequence of the bases (building blocks) in the DNA, but also how loosely or tightly the chromatin (the material that makes up chromosomes) is packed at different points of the chromosome that is critical. ...> Full Article

Physicist Cracks Women's Random But Always Lucky Choice Of X Chromosome (6/14/2007)

A University of Warwick physicist has uncovered how female cells are able to choose randomly between their two X chromosomes and why that choice is always lucky. ...> Full Article

Study On The Transoceanic Colonization Of A Drosophila Fly (5/17/2007)

Drosophila buzzatii is a fruit fly species which arrived to Europe from Argentina 300 years ago. European flies show some genome differences compared to their homologous in South America. UAB scientists have studied the different molecular structure of a mobile gene named Osvaldo in order to understand the colonizing process. ...> Full Article

Scientists Attach Genes To Mini-Chromosomes In Maize (5/17/2007)

A team of scientists at the University of Missouri-Columbia has discovered a way to create engineered mini-chromosomes in maize and attach genes to those mini-chromosomes. This discovery opens new possibilities for the development of crops that are multiply resistant to viruses, insects, fungi, bacteria and herbicides, and for the development of proteins and metabolites that can be used to treat human illnesses. ...> Full Article

DNA Damage To Nuclear Test Vets Prompts Call For Study Of Children (5/16/2007)

The Government is considering whether to fund studies into the health of nuclear test veterans' children, after a Massey study confirmed that the veterans had suffered genetic damage as a result of radiation. ...> Full Article

New Technique Will Produce A Better Chromosome Map (5/8/2007)

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a simple and economical technique for imaging and mapping fruit fly chromosomes. This new approach will enable them to construct the first accurate map of the chromosomes and tease out the secrets hidden in their stripes. ...> Full Article