News

An international team of researchers is studying a virus infecting koalas in the hope it could demonstrate how viruses have altered the DNA of humans and other species throughout history.

Top-performing soil microbes could be key to sustainable agriculture so agronomists are looking to breed plants that attract their own growth-promoting microbes.

A gene that has for decades been considered a tumour promoter, the PLK1 gene, can also perform the exact opposite function: halting the development of cancer.

Approximately 2-3 % of children suffer from strabismus, also known as "crossed eyes". An obstacle to uncovering the genetic causes of strabismus has been the physical limitation of observing the connections between the brain and eye muscles. Now, a study using transparent fish has helped researchers untangle the genetics behind crossed eyes.

Researchers have provided new insight on the geographical origins and global spread of two classes of the hepatitis B virus.

New DNA analysis reveals that, before their mysterious disappearance, the Norse colonies of Greenland had a “near monopoly” on Europe’s walrus ivory supply. An overreliance on this trade may have contributed to Norse Greenland’s collapse when the medieval market declined.

Researchers have found an indigenous variety of Mexican corn, one of the world's largest food crops, that can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, instead of requiring synthetic fertilizers, a property previously thought to be restricted to legumes.

Salk scientists identify genetic characteristics of fetal stem cells that may lead to breast cancer later in life.

Researchers have developed an optimized “adductomic” approach to the integrated analysis of the totality of cellular DNA damage. The study extends the adductomic analysis of cellular DNA, to urine. This represents a novel procedure for examining the different varieties of DNA damage formed in the body following environmental exposures.

Researchers have published data on a novel Cas9 mutant that shows improved specificity and maintains high activity when used in a medically relevant format. Potential for medical use of the new mutant enzyme was demonstrated in human hematopoietic stem cells, where it was able to correct the mutation in the beta-hemoglobin gene responsible for sickle cell disease.