Scientists have genetically modified isolated microbes for decades. Now, using CRISPR, they intend to target entire microbiomes.

A high school student uses crowdfunding to produce the first genome assembly for this popular aquarium species, underscoring the increasing feasibility of whole-genome sequencing.

The researchers who constructed the first reference genome for this critically endangered mollusk say it will assist restoration efforts.

Metagenomic sequencing can help detect unknown pathogens, but its widespread use faces challenges.

Researchers aim to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which a single genotype gives rise to diverse castes in eusocial organisms.

The Human Genome Project's discovery1 that the human body runs on an instruction manual of a mere 35,000 or so genes--compared to the worm's 19,000, the fruit fly's 13,000, and the tiny mustard relative Arabidopsis thaliana's 25,000--placed humanity on an even playing field with these other, supposedly simpler, organisms. It was a humbling experience, but humility quickly gave way to awe with the realization that the human genome might encode 100,000 to 200,000 proteins. Scientists base this num

Research Briefs New Genes: The Ears Have 'Em; The Worker, The Soldier, The Candlestick Maker; For Genomes Without Borders, Biobanks Unite New genes: The ears have 'em While scouring a new cDNA library, researchers in the Netherlands discovered 80 novel expressed-sequence tags, including 25 preferentially expressed in human fetal cochlea.1 The researchers from the University Medical Center in Nijmegen (UMCN) found that 155 ESTs map to loci for nonsyndromic deafness, which is not associated

Courtesy of Genevieve Anderson If not for Nobel laureates Thomas Hunt Morgan, Eric R. Kandel, and Sydney Brenner, the notion of a general behavioral model might seem odd. Behaviors, after all, are determined by an animal's evolutionary history and ecological niche. They are often idiosyncratic, shared in detail only by closely related species. But, thanks to Morgan's research in the early 20th century, and Kandel's and Brenner's work over the past 35 years, the fly Drosophila melanogaster, t

The unveiling of the DNA sequences of human chromosomes represents a new chapter in the unfolding story of genomics, but one with roots in the half-century-old field of cytogenetics. Chromosome-level looks can reveal the specific genes behind certain traits and disorders while providing information on genome organization. The diminutive chromosome 21--the smallest of the human contingent, despite its number as next to last--is the fourth to be described. Its debut in mid-May attracted attentio

Marine threespine sticklebacks haven't morphologically changed in an estimated 10 million years, but their freshwater offshoots show no signs of slowing down. These 5-cm-long, freshwater fish have undergone a recent evolutionary change, variably losing their calcified body armor and retractable pelvic and dorsal spines. Remarkably, isolated marine and freshwater sticklebacks can be hybridized in the laboratory, a fact that is allowing researchers to analyze the genetics behind their natural dive