News tagged with mitochondrial

Forensic science used to determine who's who in pre-Columbian Peru

Analysis of ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been used to establish migration and population patterns for American indigenous cultures during the time before Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas. ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New study suggests polar bears evolved earlier than previously thought

(Phys.org) -- A new genetic analysis carried out by and international team of scientists has revealed that polar bears and brown bears may have diverged around 600,000 years ago, which is much earlier than ...

Biology / Evolution

created Apr 20, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 69 | with audio podcast report

Genetic study unravels ancient links between African and European populations

Large numbers of people moved between Africa and Europe during recent and well-documented time periods such as the Roman Empire, the Arab conquest, and the slave trade, and genetic evidence of these migrations lives on in ...

Biology / Evolution

created Mar 26, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

The Viking journey of mice and men

House mice (Mus musculus) happily live wherever there are humans. When populations of humans migrate the mice often travel with them. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology h ...

Biology / Evolution

created Mar 19, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Genetics of endangered African monkey suggest troubles from warming climate

A rare and endangered monkey in an African equatorial rainforest is providing a look into our climatic future through its DNA. Its genes show that wild drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus), already an overhunted specie ...

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 29, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New species of bat found in Vietnam

A distinctive echolocation frequency led to the discovery of a new species of bat within the genus Hipposideros. Although this bat is similar to the species Hipposideros armiger, differences in acoustics, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A new species of bamboo-feeding plant lice found in Costa Rica

Several periods of field work during 2008 have led to the discovery of a new species of bamboo-feeding plant lice in Costa Rica's high-altitude region "Cerro de la Muerte". The discovery was made thanks to ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

High-energy lifestyles led to evolution of the sexes

Scientists are a step closer to explaining one of the most enduring mysteries of modern biology; why are there males and females?

Biology / Evolution

created Dec 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Structure of a molecular copy machine: How mitochondrial genes are transcribed

Mitochondria are compartments within cells and have their own DNA. The key protein required for the expression of the genetic information in this DNA is the mitochondrial RNA polymerase enzyme. Its three-dimensional structure ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Endangered horse has ancient origins and high genetic diversity, new study finds

An endangered species of horse -- known as Przewalski's horse -- is much more distantly related to the domestic horse than researchers had previously hypothesized, reports a team of investigators led by Kateryna ...

Biology / Evolution

created Sep 07, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

With climate changes, polar bear and brown bear lineages intertwine

Polar bears' unique characteristics allow them to survive in one of the most extreme environments on Earth, but that survival is now threatened as rising temperatures and melting ice reshape the Arctic landscape. Now it appears ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Ancestry of polar bears traced to Ireland

An international team of scientists has discovered that the female ancestor of all living polar bears was a brown bear that lived in the vicinity of present-day Britain and Ireland just prior to the peak of ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Scientists use DNA technique to distinguish sardines from mackerel

Being able to distinguish sardines from horse mackerel has just got a little easier. Researchers in Spain used forensic mitochondrial DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) species identification techniques to genetically ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jun 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Sardines and horse mackerel identified using forensic techniques

A team of researchers from Galicia in Spain have used forensic mitochondrial DNA species identification techniques to distinguish between sardines and horse mackerel. This method makes it possible to genetically differentiate ...

Biology / Ecology

created May 24, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The body's power stations can affect aging

Mitochondria are the body's energy producers, the power stations inside our cells. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have now identified a group of mitochondrial proteins, the absence of ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 10, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast