In the disturbing scenario of human-to-mink-to-human COVID-19 transmission, the virus may mutate in mink prior to re-infecting people. That possibility makes vaccine design even more crucial.
Genome sequencing technologies have transformed biological research in many ways, but have had a much smaller effect on the treatment of common diseases.
Why was one gene mutation that affects hair, teeth, sweat glands and breasts ubiquitous among ice age Arctic people? New research points to the advantage it provided for ancestors of Native Americans.
Watching bacteria and viruses duke it out, evolving to outwit each other.
UC San Diego
A core idea in molecular biology is that one gene codes for one protein. Now biologists have found an example of a gene that yields two forms of a protein – enabling it to evolve new functionality.
MRI of healthy brain.
gmstockstudio/Shutterstock.com
Comparing genomes of more than 200,000 people, researchers identified genetic variants that are less common in older people, suggesting natural selection continues to weed out disadvantageous traits.
Releasing just 100 mice carrying a faulty gene designed to stop them reproducing can remove an entire population of 50,000, a new study shows, paving the way for new eradication efforts.
A young breast-cancer patient in her home.
Fototip/Shutterstock
Two US researchers have traced the majority of cancers to DNA replication errors during our natural cell replacement. Their finding asks for a renewed inquiry into the role of "chance" in cancer.
What can a single person’s flu infection tell you about how the virus changes around the world?
Xue and Bloom
A new research paper reports dangerous side effects in CRISPR-edited mice. Some scientists are pushing back, placing blame for the unwanted mutations on the experiment, not the technique.
Our cells have a built-in genetic clock, tracking time… but how accurately?
Stopwatch image via www.shutterstock.com.
How do scientists figure out when evolutionary events – like species splitting away from a common ancestor – happened? It turns out our DNA is a kind of molecular clock, keeping time via genetic changes.
There are genetic difference within and between tumors.
DNA sequencing image via www.shutterstock.com.
Not only are tumors are different from one another, but there can even be genetic differences within a single tumor.
Deficiencies in a critical nutrient can lead to an abnormally wired brain. Illustration of a network of nerve cells in the.
brain.
Benedict Campbell, Wellcome Images/Flickr
What produces the differences between men and women? Are they trivial or profound? Are they genetic or environmental, or both? And are men really closer genetically to chimpanzees than to women?
Associate Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Affiliate Associate Professor of Genome Sciences and Microbiology, University of Washington