genome

A new reference human genome could reflect our species’ true diversity

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The current reference human genome is based on a handful of people but the new Pangenome project will incorporate DNA from hundreds of people all around the world Humans 16 March 2022 By Michael Marshall DNA sequence data Shutterstock / Gio.tto The human genome is being sequenced again – but better. A new project to … Read more

What You Eat Has The Power to Reprogram Your Genes. An Expert Explains How

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People typically think of food as calories, energy, and sustenance. However, the latest evidence suggests that food also “talks” to our genome, which is the genetic blueprint that directs the way the body functions down to the cellular level.   This communication between food and genes may affect your health, physiology, and longevity. The idea … Read more

CRISPR’s Nobel Prize winners defeated in key patent claim for genome editor | Science

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Patent rulings and scientific honors don’t always mesh, as the team that won the Nobel Prize for creating the genome editor CRISPR learned yesterday. After a 7-year patent battle, a U.S. court rejected its intellectual property claim to a key use of CRISPR, potentially costing it many millions in licensing fees. According to a ruling … Read more

We Now Have The Largest Ever Human ‘Family Tree’, With 231 Million Ancestral Lineages

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In June 2000, two rival groups of researchers shook hands in the shared success of a milestone in biology – the delivery of a rough draft of the human genome. What started with an incomplete map of our chromosomes has since bloomed into a vast trove of individualized sequences from all corners of the globe, … Read more

Human genome: A virus has been ‘fossilised’ in our DNA for 106 million years

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The remnants of a virus that plagued our mammal ancestors during the age of the dinosaurs have been found lurking in our genomes Life 18 February 2022 By Michael Le Page An artist’s impression of prehistoric animals from the early Cretaceous period MARK P. WITTON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Around 106 million years ago, the DNA of … Read more

Huge Project Is Now Underway to Sequence The Genome of Every Complex Species on Earth

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The Earth Biogenome Project, a global consortium that aims to sequence the genomes of all complex life on earth (some 1.8 million described species) in ten years, is ramping up.   The project’s origins, aims and progress are detailed in two multi-authored papers published today. Once complete, it will forever change the way biological research … Read more

Archeology: Hybrid animal in 4500-year-old tomb is earliest known bred by humans

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Early Bronze Age people in Syria crossed donkeys with wild asses to make prized horse-like hybrids, demonstrating advanced understanding of animal breeding Life 14 January 2022 By Alice Klein Equid skeletons from Tell Umm el-Marra, Syria Glenn Schwartz/John Hopkins University The bones of horse-like creatures unearthed in a 4500-year-old royal tomb in Syria are the … Read more

New Evidence Challenges The Idea That Mutations Are Entirely Random

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It’s a common misconception that evolution has a sense of direction – a notion that biology nerds around the world are constantly trying to correct. But new research reveals there may be a semblance of truth to this misconception, at least more than we ever realized.   While it’s not as straightforward as mutation with … Read more