Genes Content

Can Corals Adapt to Climate Change?

Katherine E Kerlin — November 01, 2017 - 4:05pm

Cool-water corals can adapt to a slightly warmer ocean, but only if global greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. That’s according to a study published Nov. 1 in the journal Science Advances of genetic adaptation and the likely effects of future warming on tabletop corals in the Cook Islands.

Southern California Mountain Lions’ Genetic Connectivity Dangerously Low

Katherine E Kerlin — June 14, 2017 - 11:00am

If a dangerously inbred puma population in Southern California is to survive in the future, an urgent need for genetic connectivity must be met, according to two scientific papers from a team of researchers coordinated by the University of California, Davis, and involving scientists at the University of Wyoming and the University of Massachusetts–Amherst.

Mosquito Preference for Human Versus Animal Biting Has Genetic Basis

Katherine E Kerlin — September 15, 2016 - 10:58am

Mosquitoes are more likely to feed on cattle than on humans if they carry a specific chromosomal rearrangement in their genome. This reduces their odds of transmitting the malaria parasite, according to a University of California, Davis, study published Sept. 15 in the journal PLOS Genetics.

Essential Mouse Genes Could Guide Human Precision Medicine

Andy Fell — September 14, 2016 - 3:03pm

About one-third of 1751 genes studied in the first comprehensive survey of the mouse genome are essential to life, according to research by an international collaboration including the �� Mouse Biology Program. Mutations of these genes cause death at the embryo stage. Many of them have counterparts in the human genome, so understanding why these genes are so vital could help prioritize human genes for study.