genetics & genomics, evolution

Planarian flatworms grow to double their normal size when scientists inhibit a gene that suppresses growth.

As global temperatures rise and winters shorten, caterpillars of the corn borer moth are emerging earlier in parts of the US thanks to changes in two genes, researchers find.

An evolutionary biologist knits a festive homage to her research.

Researchers analyzed more than 800 species.

An analysis suggests that DNA cribbed from soil microbes enabled plants’ ancestors to colonize a terrestrial environment.

Distantly related, lookalike Heliconius species arrive at the same appearance using the same few genes, but regulated differently, according to recent studies.

From regulating each other’s gene expression to encoding different parts of the same proteins, the two genome types in every eukaryotic cell are far from independent.

Interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes have further-reaching effects on physiological function, adaptation, and speciation than previously appreciated.

The big cats show signs of inbreeding despite conservation efforts to diversify their populations.

Small RNAs called piRNAs provide a first line of defense against the viruses.

DNA analysis of a bizarre, 30-year-old whale skull serves as a reminder of the secrets that museum specimens keep about the natural world.

Researchers recovered eight species from the salty, alkaline environment—increasing the known biodiversity of animals in the California lake five-fold.

Scientists injected unfertilized anole lizard eggs with CRISPR-Cas9 to produce albino offspring.

From skin color to immunity, human biology is linked to our archaic ancestry.

See when and where our ancestors may have interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Theodosius Dobzhansky’s work in population genetics influenced how genetics and natural selection were combined in evolutionary biology.

Scientists spent five years reconstructing what is now the oldest HIV-1 genome yet recovered.

The 12-year-long endeavor reveals Prometheoarchaeum as a tentacled cell, living in a symbiotic relationship with methane-producing microbes.

To see if the spiky fish shares signaling pathways found in other organisms, scientists scooped up specimens during a mating frenzy on the shores of Japan.