Some of our genes can be expressed or silenced depending on whether we inherited them from our mother or our father. The mechanism behind this phenomenon, known as genomic imprinting, is determined by DNA modifications during ...
Evolution
Mar 6, 2024
0
33
Scientists have known for decades that genes can be transferred from one species to another, both in animals and plants. However, the mechanism of how such an unlikely event occurs remained unknown. Now, researchers from ...
Biotechnology
Jun 29, 2023
0
101
Sexual selection provides an answer to the existence of lavishly ornate signals in animals, but not to the question of why such signals are attractive—for example, why do females prefer the extravagant plumage of peacocks? ...
Evolution
Apr 4, 2023
1
167
New findings from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research uncover critical insights about how a dangerous selfish gene—considered to be a parasitic portion of DNA—functions and survives. Understanding this dynamic ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 8, 2022
0
127
Meiotic drivers are a type of selfish gene. Present in the genomes of nearly all species, including humans, they unfairly transfer their genetic material to more than half of their offspring, sometimes leading to infertility, ...
Evolution
Oct 20, 2022
0
33
The human genome is littered with selfish genetic elements, which do not seem to benefit their hosts, but instead seek only to propagate themselves.
Evolution
Nov 11, 2021
0
126
The capture of the first living Coelacanth, a mighty ocean predator, off the coast of South Africa caused quite a stir in 1938, 65 million years after its supposed extinction. It became known as a "living fossil" owing to ...
Evolution
Feb 9, 2021
5
6792
Nature is full of animals helping each other out. A classic example is meerkat cooperation. When the group is foraging for food, one individual will head to a vantage point and keep watch for predators. This selfless individual ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 12, 2019
0
15
A selfish streak in genes known to drive species apart might occasionally bring them closer together, says a new study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Rochester.
Plants & Animals
Dec 20, 2018
0
21
Selfish genes are genes that are passed on to the next generation but confer no advantage on the individual as a whole, and may sometimes be harmful. Researchers at Uppsala University have, for the first time, sequenced (or ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 15, 2018
0
5
