Latest Mitochondrial Eve Stories
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online If there is one thing you can say about families, it is the larger the better. And by looking at genetic data of people from Ireland to the Balkans, researchers have found that Europeans are one big family, and have been for the past thousand years. Graham Coop, a professor of evolution and ecology at UCDavis, and Peter Ralph, a professor at University of Southern California (USC), published a recent study of the genetics of...
BioMed Central The extraordinary level of conservation of the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) mitochondrial genome has redefined our interpretation of evolution of the angiosperms (flowering plants), finds research in biomed Central's open access journal BMC Biology. This beautiful 'molecular fossil' has a remarkably slow mutation rate meaning that its mitochondrial genome has remained largely unchanged since the dinosaurs were roaming the earth. Evolutionary studies make used of...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online We thought the first evidence would emerge from some backyard video footage, or a smartphone photo, but the real proof of the existence of Bigfoot actually lies in the DNA. A team of scientists has published the results of a five-year study of DNA samples from Sasquatch in the journal DeNovo Journal of Science. Researchers claim they have sequenced three whole Bigfoot nuclear genomes, helping to prove that the legendary creature...
--CHOP Researchers' New Single-Platform Tool Streamlines Diagnoses of Complicated Multisystem Disorders-- PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More powerful gene-sequencing tools have increasingly been uncovering disease secrets in DNA within the cell nucleus. Now a research team is expanding those rapid next-generation sequencing tests to analyze a separate source of DNA--within the genes inside mitochondria, cellular power plants that, when abnormal, contribute to...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A scientist in Texas is claiming to have sequenced the genome of Bigfoot, alias Sasquatch or Yeti. Researcher Melba Ketchum led a team of scientists in a five-year DNA study purporting to confirm the existence of the hominin hybrid species commonly referred to as Bigfoot. The findings of this study are not yet published and are currently undergoing peer review. The study findings suggest that the mythical creature known as Bigfoot...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your University Online A research team from the University of Otago has achieved landmark results by sequencing the complete mitochondrial genome for members of what was likely to be one of the first groups of Polynesians to settle New Zealand. The results of this study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have revealed a surprising degree of genetic variation among these pioneering voyagers. Similar DNA detective...
TAU research says genetics can reveal your geographic ancestral origin While your DNA is unique, it also tells the tale of your family line. It carries the genetic history of your ancestors down through the generations. Now, says a Tel Aviv University researcher, it's also possible to use it as a map to your family's past. Prof. Eran Halperin of TAU's Blavatnik School of Computer Science and Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, along with a group of researchers from...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online New analytical techniques are changing long-held, simplistic views about the evolutionary history of humans in Europe. The study, reported in the journal Trends in Genetics, found that many cultural, climatic, and demographic events have shaped genetic variation among modern-day European populations and that the variety of those mechanisms is more diverse than previously thought. Recent advances in paleogenetics, or the study of...
Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered, for the first time in any animal species, a type of “selfish” mitochondrial DNA that is actually hurting the organism and lessening its chance to survive – and bears a strong similarity to some damage done to human cells as they age. The findings, just published in the journal PLoS One, are a biological oddity previously unknown in animals. But they may also provide an important new tool to study human aging, scientists said....
The trade in ivory was largely outlawed in 1989, but poaching continues and remains a serious threat to the African elephant. Seizures of large amounts of ivory, sometimes over a ton, continue to occur. Research by Alfred Roca, an assistant professor at the university, could be the basis for the development of new law enforcement tools. Roca has found a way to determine where the ivory comes from. With funding from the Division of International Conservation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife...
