BOL: Related items

Hejnol Group

Thu, 22 Feb 2018 16:02:53 -0600

The group studies a broad range of animal taxa using morphological and molecular tools to unravel the evolution and development of animal organ systems.

To understand the evolution of the biodiversity seen on planet earth is one of the major goals in biology. How animals explored new habitats from only being confined to the marine environment and the how the forms diversified is still one of the most tremendous questions to be answered.

http://www.sars.no/research/HejnolGrp.php

Gupta Lab

Sat, 29 Dec 2018 13:18:31 -0600

Work include (i) understanding the evolutionary relationships among different prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms; (ii) Understanding the cellular functions of these lineage-specific signature proteins as well as lineage-specific conserved inserts and deletions in important housekeeping proteins by genetic and biochemical studies; (iii) Development of novel diagnostic methods (PCR based and immunological) for identification of different groups of organisms based upon these signature proteins and conserved indels; (iv) The use of these lineage-specific probes with predicitive ability to identify/explore the presence of different groups of organisms in metagenomic sequences from various environments.

https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/gupta-lab/index.html

TMRCA Calculator

BioStar — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 05:07:30 -0600

This program calculates the probability that two people have a certain number of generations between them, based on the standard infinite alleles formula of Walsh. It calculates both the probability of being at an exact number of generations back to the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) of a certain pair of people and the cumulative probability that the actual number of generations is less than a certain value. Note that the convention using generations is changed from an earlier version of this calculator which used "transmission events". It can list both result types in a table or graph. In either case the horizontal axis stops at the point where the cumulative probability reaches 95% or 10 generations, whichever is longer, or an absolute max of 50,000. Beyond 90% the calculation becomes inaccurate.

https://clandonaldusa.org/index.php/tmrca-calculator

Address of the bookmark: https://clandonaldusa.org/index.php/tmrca-calculator

Genomicus: genome browser that enables users to navigate in genomes in several dimensions

Jit — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 23:27:37 -0600

Genomicus is a genome browser that enables users to navigate in genomes in several dimensions: linearly along chromosome axes, transversaly across different species, and chronologicaly along evolutionary time.

Once a query gene has been entered, it is displayed in its genomic context in parallel to the genomic context of all its orthologous and paralogous copies in all the other sequenced metazoan genomes. Moreover, Genomicus stores and displays the predicted ancestral genome structure in all the ancestral species within the phylogenetic range of interest.

All the data on extant species displayed in this browser are from Ensembl.

Summary statistics of Genomicus version 105.01: (view species tree in pdf or newick)


Number of extant species	200
Number of extant genes	4303993
Number of ancestral species	196
Number of ancestral genes	4624213
Number of ancestral synteny blocks	83342

Address of the bookmark: https://www.genomicus.bio.ens.psl.eu/genomicus-105.01/cgi-bin/search.pl

Genetic basis of tail-loss evolution

LEGE — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:12:36 -0600

The paper "On the genetic basis of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07095-8)", published in Nature, investigates the genetic mechanisms that led to the loss of tails in humans and apes. The study suggests that a specific genetic mutation, involving the insertion of an Alu element (a type of transposable DNA sequence), played a critical role in the evolutionary transition from tailed primates to tailless hominoids.

Key Findings of the Study:

Alu Insertion and Tail Loss:
The researchers discovered an Alu-mediated genetic change in a common ancestor of modern apes and humans. This change disrupted the normal function of a gene involved in tail development, leading to the suppression of tail formation.
Gene Disruption Mechanism:
The Alu insertion was found within a regulatory region of the TBXT gene (also known as T or Brachyury), which is crucial for tail development in vertebrates. This insertion likely altered the gene's expression patterns, leading to tail reduction over evolutionary time.
Functional Evidence from Model Organisms:
To test their hypothesis, the researchers introduced similar genetic modifications in mice. The modified mice exhibited shortened or absent tails, supporting the idea that the identified mutation played a role in tail loss in hominoids.
Evolutionary Implications:
The findings suggest that small, random genomic changes—such as transposable element insertions—can have profound effects on body morphology. This study provides evidence that mobile DNA elements (like Alu) can drive major evolutionary transitions.
Relevance to Human Evolution:
Understanding the genetic basis of tail loss helps in reconstructing the evolutionary history of hominins (the lineage that includes humans and our extinct relatives). It also sheds light on how genetic variations contribute to anatomical diversity among primates.

Significance of the Study:

This research highlights the role of transposable elements in shaping evolutionary traits and provides a concrete genetic explanation for a defining characteristic of humans and great apes. It also demonstrates how mutations in regulatory regions of developmental genes can lead to significant anatomical changes.

Phylogenetics

Fri, 23 Aug 2013 03:53:43 -0500

006 - Phylogenetics Paul Andersen discusses the specifics of phylogenetics. The evolutionary relationships of organisms are discovered through both morphological and molecular data. A specific type of phylogenetic tree, the cladogram, is also covered. Intro Music Atribution Title: I4dsong_loop_main.wav Artist: CosmicD Link to sound: http://www.freesound.org/people/CosmicD/sounds/72556/ Creative Commons Atribution License

Mike Ritchie Lab

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 15:25:45 -0500

Mike Ritchie Lab primary research focus is the detection of susceptibility genes for common diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, among others. The approaches will involve the development and application of new statistical methods with a focus on the detection of gene-gene interactions associated with human disease.

Gene expression and protein expression patterns between normal and non-normal tissues is a growing area of research that may lead to the identification of candidate genes for understanding the etiology of common, complex diseases.

Lab homepage @ http://ritchielab.psu.edu/ritchielab/

Memories Can Be Passed Down Through DNA

Sat, 10 May 2014 21:24:10 -0500

The premise of Assassin's Creed is the reliving of other people's memories stored inside DNA. Well scientists have found that in mice, it actually happens! Anthony is joined by special guest and our friend Tara Long from Hard Science to explain how this process works, and if it might apply to humans as well. Read More: Parental olfactory experience influences behavior and neural structure in subsequent generations http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nn.3594.html "Using olfactory molecular specificity, we examined the inheritance of parental traumatic exposure, a phenomenon that has been frequently observed, but not understood." What Is Epigenetics? http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6004/611 "The cells in a multicellular organism have nominally identical DNA sequences (and therefore the same genetic instruction sets), yet maintain different terminal phenotypes. This nongenetic cellular memory, which records developmental and environmental cues (and alternative cell states in unicellular organisms), is the basis of epi-(above)-genetics." Epigenetics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics Watch More: How to Change Your Genes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5DU9lgbsSE TestTube Wild Card http://testtube.com/dnews/dnews-231-how-too-many-screens-affect-our-brain?utm_source=YT&utm_medium=DNews&utm_campaign=DNWC Is Sexiness Hereditary? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6STRCncvM8 ____________________ DNews is dedicated to satisfying your curiosity and to bringing you mind-bending stories & perspectives you won't find anywhere else! New videos twice daily. Watch More DNews on TestTube http://testtube.com/dnews Subscribe now! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=dnewschannel DNews on Twitter http://twitter.com/dnews Anthony Carboni on Twitter http://twitter.com/acarboni Laci Green on Twitter http://twitter.com/gogreen18 Trace Dominguez on Twitter http://twitter.com/trace501 DNews on Facebook http://facebook.com/dnews DNews on Google+ http://gplus.to/dnews Discovery News http://discoverynews.com

National Center for Bioinformatics (NCB)

Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:10:49 -0500

NCB is offering M.Phil and Ph.D programs in the area of Bioinformatics. The major goal of NCB is to promote quality training and research in the area of Bioinformatics. Bioinformatics originated as a cross-disciplinary field as the need for computational sections to research problem raised in biomedicine.

More at http://ncb.qau.edu.pk/

ChromEvol

Jit — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 00:33:11 -0600

Chromosome number is a remarkably dynamic feature of eukaryotic evolution. Chromosome numbers can change by a duplication of the whole genome (a process termed polyploidy), or by single chromosome changes (ascending dysploidy via, e.g., chromosome fission or descending dysploidy via, e.g., chromosome fusion).
Of the various mechanisms of chromosome number change, polyploidy has received significant attention because of the impact such an event may have on the organism.
ChromEvol implements a series of likelihood models for the evolution of chromosome numbers. By comparing the fit of the different models to biological data, it may be possible to gain insight regarding the pathways by which the evolution of chromosome number proceeds. For each model, the program estimates the rates for the possible transitions assumed by the model, infers the set of ancestral chromosome numbers, and estimates the location along the tree for which polyploidy events (and other chromosome number changes) occurred. For further methodological details, see the publications and manual on the Downloads page.

http://www.tau.ac.il/~itaymay/cp/chromEvol/about.html

Address of the bookmark: http://www.tau.ac.il/~itaymay/cp/chromEvol/downloads.html