About sixty percent of the genomes of human beings and bananas are similar. So does that mean we are bananas? Well, no - only in a figurative sense. The regulation of gene expression is essential to ...

A new Yale study provides a fuller picture of the genetic changes that shaped the evolution of the human brain, and how the process differed from the evolution of chimpanzees. For the study, published ...

Researchers Gregory Goldman, Gregory Fournier, and Betul Kacar have identified a rare class of ancient gene families, called ...

De novo gene evolution describes the process by which entirely new genes originate from previously non-coding DNA rather than from the duplication and divergence of existing genetic material. This ...

From epic poetry to game shows, from Stone Age axes to spaceflight, humans have the most complex cultures of any species on Earth. Since the time of Darwin, scientists have suspected that this culture ...

Findings suggest that new genes can form by repurposing fragments of ancestral genes while incorporating entirely new coding regions (the protein-coding parts of the DNA). This innovative concept ...

For millennia, evolution has intrigued many great thinkers, prompting questions about how new traits emerge as species adapt over time. Then, attention shifted to natural selection and the inheritance ...

The evolution of new genes is not the only way for a species to change. The loss of genes may also lead to adaptations that help species survive, but this idea has not been well studied. Now, ...

Data from a new study links a pair of duplicated genes to human brain features. The research provides a roadmap for scientists to gain a deeper understanding of brain function and evolution, as well ...

A study shows how a single gene in Atlantic salmon can dramatically influence the timing of puberty -- a key factor for salmon life cycle and survival. A study carried out at the University of ...

Although the participation of spliceosomes is almost always required for intron removal, a few types of genes have ...