Genetics is the branch of biological sciences that investigates the organization, transmission, variation, and functional consequences of hereditary information in organisms. It focuses on the structure and function of genes and genomes, the molecular mechanisms of DNA replication, transcription, and translation, and the regulation of gene expression across developmental and environmental contexts. Genetics encompasses classical (Mendelian) inheritance, molecular genetics, population and quantitative genetics, and genomics, providing the framework for understanding mutation, recombination, genetic linkage, and evolutionary change, as well as informing experimental design and interpretation in biomedical, agricultural, and model-organism research.
One of the fundamental rules of inheritance states that different alleles (gene copies) of a trait, such as sex, are inherited with equal frequency. "However, we have long known that there are genes that can increase their ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 24, 2025
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54
Higher yields, greater resilience to climatic changes or diseases—the demands on crop plants are constantly growing. To address these challenges, researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are developing new methods ...
Biotechnology
Nov 21, 2025
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25
Seed plants are essential as a source of food, fuel, medicine, and more. Now, a multidisciplinary team of researchers has combined deep botanical knowledge with powerful genomic technology to decode and mine the DNA of non-flowering ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 13, 2025
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54
Gut microbes are essential partners that help digest food, produce vitamins and train the immune system. They can also pass on behavioral traits to their host's offspring, at least in mice. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute ...
Most species on Earth exist as two biological sexes, and the exchange of genes between males and females is vital for their survival. Yet, what actually determines whether an individual develops into a male or female varies ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 10, 2025
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42
Developing high-yielding, nutritious and climate-resilient crops is vital to safeguard the future of global food production. To meet the challenges ahead, Iowa State University scientists are working with crop breeders to ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 5, 2025
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22
Understanding how cells turn genes on and off is one of biology's most enduring mysteries. Now, a new technology developed by chemist Brian Liau and his collaborators at Harvard offers an unprecedented window into this activity, ...
Biotechnology
Nov 3, 2025
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An international research team led by Hiroki Shibuya at RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR) in Japan has solved a genetic mystery and revealed a previously unknown way that DNA can control what cells do.
Evolution
Oct 23, 2025
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59
Imagine you are a kind of fish called a goby, part of a huge family of more than 2,000 species. Maybe you're of average size for a goby, about three to four inches long. Your longest relative is about four times your length—more ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 22, 2025
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91
The goal of gene therapy is to permanently cure hereditary diseases. One of the most promising technologies for this is the CRISPR/Cas system, colloquially known as gene scissors. These can cut and modify DNA in a targeted ...
Biotechnology
Oct 22, 2025
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