Genetics

More Stories in Genetics

  1. illustration of slinky structures in archaea dna
    Microbes

    Archaea microbes fold, twist and contort their DNA in extreme ways

    Single-celled archaea open and close their Slinky-like genetic material in a clamshell motion, possibly providing easy access to their genes.

    By Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
  2. illustration of a woman walking across of a bridge of DNA
    Genetics

    DNA databases are too white, so genetics doesn’t help everyone. How do we fix that?

    A lack of diversity in genetic databases is making precision medicine ineffective for many people. One historian proposes a solution: construct reference genomes for individual populations.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  3. street scene in Lagos, Nigeria
    Genetics

    The first human genetic blueprint just turned 20. What’s next?

    The Human Genome Project led to many medical advances. Deciphering 3 million African genomes and using new tech to fill gaps could lead to even more.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  4. neandertal skeleton
    Health & Medicine

    Some Neandertal genes in people today may protect against severe COVID-19

    Neandertal DNA on chromosome 12 may affect genes involved in a biochemical chain reaction that ends with the destruction of viral RNA.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  5. illustration of steppe mammoths
    Genetics

    The oldest animal DNA ever recovered reveals mammoths’ evolution

    Mammoths evolved to handle the cold over hundreds of thousands of years and North America may been home to a hybrid species, a new study finds.

    By Erin Garcia de Jesús
  6. pink flower on a cotton plant in the Yucatan Peninsula
    Plants

    Modified genes can distort wild cotton’s interactions with insects

    In a Yucatan nature park, engineered genes influence nectar production, affecting ants’ and maybe pollinators’ attraction to the wild cotton plants.

    By Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
  7. A tuatara, which looks like a spiny lizard
    Genetics

    Lizard-like tuatara carry two distinct mitochondrial genomes

    Having two mitochondrial genetic instruction books, a first for vertebrates, may help explain tuatara’s unique ability to tolerate cold temperatures.

    By Devin A. Reese
  8. twin girls
    Genetics

    Some identical twins don’t have identical DNA

    Mutations arising early in development may account for genetic differences between identical twins.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  9. Lake Baikal
    Genetics

    Plague may have caused die-offs of ancient Siberians

    DNA suggests that the deadly bacterium that causes the plague reached northeast Asia by 4,400 years ago.

    By Bruce Bower