Scientists from Denmark and China have estimated germline mutation rates across vertebrates by sequencing and comparing genetic samples from 151 mother, father, and offspring trios from 68 species of mammals, fishes, birds ...
The male reproductive system serves as a hotspot for the emergence of new genes. Perhaps that explains why more new mutations are inherited from fathers than from mothers. It doesn't, however, clarify why older fathers pass ...
Evolution
Jan 12, 2023
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46
Fruit flies (Drosophila) are important model organisms for biological research. Molecular tools exist that can turn on (or induce) gene expression in fruit flies, allowing researchers to learn more about the functions of ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 26, 2021
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256
A recent study by the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) using roundworms has discovered that a conserved syndecan protein coordinates communication between the germline and the rest of the body and that this communication ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 18, 2021
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25
The protection of genome integrity of germ cells is essential for animal fertility. Researchers from the Grosshans group characterized a defense mechanism against selfish genetic elements in the C. elegans germline. They ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 14, 2021
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65
As the world scrambles to control the growing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, new research in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology shows viruses also play a key evolutionary role in mammals' ability to reproduce and survive.
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 7, 2020
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An international team led by Alexander Suh at Uppsala University has sequenced a chromosome in zebra finches called the germline-restricted chromosome (GRC). This chromosome is only found in germline cells, the cells that ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 2, 2019
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30
Mitochondria, often thought of as the powerhouses of cells, are just one part of a larger living thing, but they are unique among cellular structures in that they have their own DNA that is distinct from that of their parent ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 19, 2019
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47
Mutation rates are proposed to be a pragmatic balance struck between the harmful effects of mutations and the costs of suppressing them; this hypothesis predicts that longer-lived body parts and those that contribute to the ...
Biotechnology
Apr 9, 2019
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33
(Phys.org)—A pair of researchers affiliated with the University of California and Calico Life Sciences, has discovered a possible explanation regarding how human germlines are rejuvenated. In their paper published in the ...
