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DNA

Art for "Fragile DNA Enables New Adaptations to Evolve Quickly"
evolution

Fragile DNA Enables New Adaptations to Evolve Quickly

By Viviane Callier
February 5, 2019
Read Later

If highly repetitive gene-regulating sequences in DNA are easily lost, that may explain why some adaptations evolve quickly and repeatedly.

Abstractions blog

Gene Drives Work in Mice (if They’re Female)

By John Rennie +1 authors
Jordana Cepelewicz
January 23, 2019
Read Later

Biologists have demonstrated for the first time that a controversial genetic engineering technology works, with caveats, in mammals.

Art for "Stem Cells Remember Tissues’ Past Injuries"
developmental biology

Stem Cells Remember Tissues’ Past Injuries

By Monique Brouillette
November 12, 2018
Read Later

Stem cells seem to retain memories of old injuries to improve future healing. When that system goes wrong, chronic inflammation can result.

Art for "Adaptations or Neutral Changes? Evolutionary Theory Seeks a Balance"
evolution

Theorists Debate How ‘Neutral’ Evolution Really Is

By Viviane Callier
November 8, 2018
Read Later

For 50 years, evolutionary theory has emphasized the importance of neutral mutations rather than adaptive ones at the level of DNA. Real genomic data challenges that assumption.

Art for "‘Broadband’ Networks of Viruses May Help Bacteria Evolve Faster"
microbiology

‘Broadband’ Networks of Viruses May Help Bacteria Evolve Faster

By Jonathan Lambert
October 16, 2018
Read Later

A newly discovered mechanism may enable viruses to shuttle genes between bacteria 1,000 times as often as was thought — making them a major force in those cells’ evolution.

Photo of Renee Reijo Pera
Q&A

In the Ticking of the Embryonic Clock, She Finds Answers

By Jordana Cepelewicz
October 15, 2018
Read Later

Renee Reijo Pera has spent decades uncovering how the timing of embryonic development contributes to health and disease.

Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum leaf
botany

DNA Analysis Reveals a Genus of Plants Hiding in Plain Sight

By Olena Shmahalo
September 4, 2018
Read Later

Gene-sequence data is changing the way that botanists think about their classification schemes. A recent name-change for a common houseplant resulted from the discovery that it belonged in an overlooked genus.

Photo of an axolotl
developmental biology

Salamander’s Genome Guards Secrets of Limb Regrowth

By Elizabeth Preston
July 2, 2018
Read Later

With a fully sequenced genome in hand, scientists hope they are finally poised to learn how axolotls regenerate lost body parts.

Illustration for "Theory Suggests That All Genes Affect Every Complex Trait"
genomics

Theory Suggests That All Genes Affect Every Complex Trait

By Veronique Greenwood
June 20, 2018
Read Later

The more closely geneticists look at complex traits and diseases, the harder it gets to find active genes that don’t play some part in them.


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