On the expansion threshold of a species' range

What stops a species adapting to an ever-wider range of conditions, continuously expanding its geographic range? The biomathematician Jitka Polechová, an Elise Richter Fellow at the University of Vienna, has published a ...

Genetic diversity helps protect against disease

So much for survival of the fittest – diversity is the key: a team of researchers from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) has succeeded in demonstrating experimentally that genetic diversity ...

Fit for porpoise: Gene changes made 'river pig' unique

China's critically endangered Yangtze River porpoise is a distinct species, meaning it cannot interbreed with other porpoise types to pass on its DNA, a major analysis of the creature's genome revealed on Tuesday.

Five surprising things DNA has revealed about our ancestors

Researchers recently used DNA from the 10,000-year-old "Cheddar Man", one of Britain's oldest skeletons, to unveil what the first inhabitants of what now is Britain actually looked like. But this isn't the first time DNA ...

Scientists hone in on genetics behind chicken weight adaptation

Prized for their plumpness, poultry farmers have made incredible gains through agricultural breeding programs to maximize chicken size and weight to benefit worldwide consumption, where demand continues to grow the most for ...

Introgression in the pig genome leads to their altitude adaptation

Scientists from Jiangxi Agricultural University, BGI and University of California published their latest research on genetic mechanism of pig altitude-adaptations in Nature Genetics online. Their research underlined the importance ...

Home teams hold the advantage

The home team holds the advantage over visitors – at least in the plant world. However, a mere handful of genetic adaptations could even the playing field.

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