Evolution News :: ScienceDailyJumping genes shed light on how advanced life may have emerged
~ A previously unappreciated interaction in the genome turns out to have possibly been one of the driving forces in the emergence of advanced life. This discovery began with a curiosity for retrotransposons, known as ''jumping genes,'' which are DNA sequences that copy and paste themselves within the genome, multiplying rapidly. Researchers inserted a retrotransposon into bacteria, and the results could give depth to the history of how advanced life may have emerged billions of years ago. Find out more...
Deep-time evolution of animal life on islands
~ A new article describes two new fossil relatives of marsupials that shed light on how a unique island ecosystem evolved some 43 million years ago during the Eocene. Find out more...
Primates of the Caribbean: Ancient DNA reveals history of mystery monkey
~ Analysis of ancient DNA of a mysterious extinct monkey named Xenothrix -- which displays bizarre body characteristics very different to any living monkey -- has revealed that it was in fact most closely related to South America's titi monkeys (Callicebinae). Having made their way overwater to Jamaica, probably on floating vegetation, their bones reveal they subsequently underwent remarkable evolutionary change. Find out more...
Ancient DNA evidence reveals two unknown migrations from North to South America
~ A team has used genome-wide ancient DNA data to revise Central and South American history. Their analysis of DNA from 49 individuals spanning about 10,000 years in Belize, Brazil, the Central Andes, and southern South America has concluded that the majority of Central and South American ancestry arrived from at least three different streams of people entering from North America, all arising from one ancestral lineage of migrants who crossed the Bering Strait. Find out more...
Broad genome analysis shows yeasts evolving by subtraction
~ An unprecedented comparison of hundreds of species of yeasts has helped geneticists brew up an expansive picture of their evolution over the last hundreds of millions of years, including an analysis of the way they evolved individual appetites for particular food sources that may be a boon to biofuels research. Find out more...
The teeth of Changchunsaurus: Rare insight into ornithopod dinosaur tooth evolution
~ The teeth of Changchunsaurus parvus, a small herbivorous dinosaur from the Cretaceous of China, represent an important and poorly-known stage in the evolution of ornithopod dentition, according to a study. Find out more...
Origin of the periodicity of the genome explained
~ Scientists have researched what might have favored the periodicity of certain base pairs in the genomes of eukaryotic organisms. Find out more...
How cancer-causing papillomaviruses evolved
~ Cancer-causing human papillomaviruses (HPVs) diverged from their most recent common ancestors approximately half a million years ago, roughly coinciding with the timing of the split between archaic Neanderthals and modern Homo sapiens, according to a new study. Find out more...
Mystery of the 'bird from Atlantis' solved
~ The world's smallest flightless bird can be found on Inaccessible Island in the middle of the South Atlantic. Less than 100 years ago, researchers believed that this species of bird once wandered there on land extensions now submerged in water, and therefore named it Atlantisia. The researchers have now shown that the ancestors of the Atlantisia flew to Inaccessible Island from South America about 1.5 million years ago. Find out more...
Barn swallows may indeed have evolved alongside humans
~ The evolution of barn swallows, a bird ubiquitous to bridges and sheds around the world, might be even more closely tied to humans than previously thought, according to new study. Find out more...