All Articles Tagged As: dna

An Ancient Protein Balances Gene Activity and Silences Foreign DNA in Bacteria (5/18/2008)

A combination of genomics and proteomics yields a surprising finding ...> Full Article

Dawn of human matrilineal diversity (4/25/2008)

Early human populations evolved separately for 100,000 years ...> Full Article

Scientists Find a Fingerprint of Evolution Across the Human Genome (4/9/2008)

Splicing exerts selective pressure on DNA sequence ...> Full Article

Archaeologist find pre-Clovis human DNA (4/4/2008)

Human DNA from dried excrement recovered from Oregon's Paisley Caves is the oldest found yet in the New World -- dating to 14,300 years ago, some 1,200 years before Clovis culture -- and provides apparent genetic ties to Siberia or Asia ...> 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

Tiny DNA Molecules Show Liquid Crystal Phases, Pointing Up New Scenario For First Life On Earth (11/26/2007)

A team has discovered some unexpected forms of liquid crystals of ultrashort DNA molecules immersed in water, providing a new scenario for a key step in the emergence of life on Earth. ...> Full Article

Ancient retroviruses spurred evolution of gene regulatory networks in primates (11/14/2007)

When ancient retroviruses slipped bits of their DNA into the primate genome millions of years ago, they successfully preserved their own genetic legacy. Today an estimated 8 percent of the human genetic code consists of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs)--the DNA remnants from these so-called 'selfish parasites.' ...> 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

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

Hair untangles woolly mammoth puzzle (9/28/2007)

Researchers discovered that hair shafts provide an ideal source of ancient DNA -- a better source than bones and muscle for studying the genome sequences of extinct animals. Their research achievement includes the sequencing of entire mitochondrial genomes from 10 individual woolly mammoths. ...> Full Article

Computer Program Traces Ancestry Using Anonymous DNA Samples (9/24/2007)

A group of computer scientists, mathematicians, and biologists from around the world have developed a computer algorithm that can help trace the genetic ancestry of thousands of individuals in minutes, without any prior knowledge of their background. ...> Full Article

Echidna's Sex Life Under Study (8/27/2007)

A University of Adelaide-led project will study the genetic makeup of one of Australia's most iconic animals, the echidna, to give an unprecedented insight into their sex life and behaviour. ...> Full Article

Charting Ever-Changing Genomes (7/23/2007)

Instead of immutable proprietary software, any species' genetic information resembles open source code that is constantly tweaked and optimized to meet the users' specific needs. But which parts of the code have withstood the test of time and which parts have undergone rapid evolutionary change has been difficult to assess. ...> Full Article

Rapid Evolution Of Non-Coding DNA Since The Split Between Human And Chimp Genome (7/18/2007)

A difference of only a few percent in DNA sequence is thought to separate the human and chimp genomes. New research published in Genome Biology identifies the subset of sequences that may have driven the evolution of our two species. ...> Full Article

Cells Take Risks With Their Identities (7/14/2007)

Biologists have long thought that a simple on/off switch controls most genes in human cells. Flip the switch and a cell starts or stops producing a particular protein. But new evidence suggests that this model is too simple and that our genes are more ready for action than previously thought. ...> Full Article

Neutral Evolution Has Helped Shape Our Genome (7/11/2007)

Johns Hopkins researchers have added to the growing mound of evidence that many of the genetic bits and pieces that drive evolutionary changes do not confer any advantages or disadvantages to humans or other animals. ...> Full Article

Ancient Dna Shows Greenland Was Conifer Forest 450,000 Years Ago (7/7/2007)

Ancient Greenland was green. New Danish research has shown that it was covered in conifer forest and had a relatively mild climate. Professor Eske Willerslev has analysed the world's oldest DNA, preserved under the kilometre-thick icecap. The DNA is likely close to half a million years old, and the research results are overturning all previous assumptions about biological life and the climate in Greenland. The results have just been published in Science. ...> Full Article

Happy Dna Day! (4/25/2007)

It’s been 5 years since congress set about creating National DNA day. Though it probably won’t garner the media attention that Earth Day does, it is no less significant. The discovery of DNA, and the process of unlocking its secrets, is probably the biggest scientific discovery of all time. ...> Full Article

New Study Reveals Inner Workings Of A Molecular Clamp Critical To Dna Replication (4/24/2007)

From bacteria to humans, every organism must replicate its DNA. This basic process, which occurs millions of times a day in an average mammal, is driven by three core protein complexes that act as tiny machines, zipping along an unwound strand of DNA to assemble a duplicate copy. New research from Rockefeller University now shows that one of these complexes, a “clamp loader,” requires several previously unidentified steps to get the process started. ...> Full Article