Analysis reveals key gene for bacterial infection

To successfully infect their hosts, bacteria need to evade the host immune system in order to reproduce and spread. Over the course of evolution, hosts—such as humans—develop increasingly sophisticated defenses against ...

Project reveals genome of celebrity cat Lil BUB

Lil BUB has drawn millions of followers across the internet for her cute appearance. Behind the celebrity cat's unique features is a combination of two rare genetic variants, three molecular biologists from Germany and the ...

Where sexes come by the thousands

By the end of every spring semester, students in my introductory biology course at Vanderbilt University have become quite familiar with natural variation in human sex chromosomes. They know, for example, that most females ...

Can Seabiscuit's DNA explain his elite racing ability?

Seabiscuit was not an impressive-looking horse. He was considered quite lazy, preferring to eat and sleep in his stall rather than exercise. He'd been written off by most of the racing industry after losing his first 17 races. ...

Female gametes prefer sperm with different immune genes

Through clever partner selection, animals can increase the future success of their offspring. With some species, this process continues even after the sex act. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology ...

Obesity genes probably didn't evolve to help us survive famine

Genes that helped our ancestors store fat in times of famine may have been useful, but whether they cursed future generations with a predisposition toward obesity is a little more controversial. This popular "thrifty gene ...

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