The recent publication of the complete genome sequence of an actual sea sponge, reveals genes that date back hundreds of millions of years ago. The genome sequence shows the high genetic complexity that existed at the time and reveals that the genetic roots of cancer evolutionary sink in these animals.

A team of scientists, including four from the University of California at Santa Barbara, carried out the sequencing of the current genome of a marine sponge from Great Barrier Reef of Australia. The sponge belongs to a group of organisms of 650 million years old. (more…)

CUn international team of scientists identified a gene variant that may explain the cause of several common types of migraine. The study, which analyzed genetic data from more than 50,000 people, provides the first information about what might cause some people more susceptible to migraine. The researchers, who published details of the study in the journal Nature Genetics, hope the study will lead to the development of new therapies against the disorder that affects one in six women and one in 12 men.

Migraine is a disorder that causes the release of the nerves and blood vessels in the head of inflammatory chemicals that cause pain. Usually migraine attacks occur once a month, but the frequency can vary from once a year to once a week. (more…)

The origin of the ability of animals (including humans) and plants to reproduce sexually recombine genetically to repair DNA, and then produce eggs, sperm or pollen, is a biological enigma unsolved. It has now proposed a new theory on the mysterious evolution of this type of reproduction.

Harris Bernstein and Carol Bernstein, researchers from University of Arizona think they have found key clues about the early evolution of gendered bodies and the role that environmental constraints were taken into sexual reproduction as crucial survival strategy of species. (more…)

Peter Hirst, professor of horticulture at Purdue University has found that an anomaly in certain causes some apples grow to a size well above the rest, because their cells do not divide the blocks as normal.

The finding shows that the new variety is approximately 38 per cent heavier and has a diameter 15 percent larger than normal.

The phenomenon has never before been seen in apples. It is a rarity for this fruit. (more…)

An old question relating to the why men accumulate fat in the belly and hip women might finally have a convincing answer: genetically speaking, female fat tissue is very different from the male. Research has revealed that about 40,000 genes in mouse, only 138 are present typically in fat cells both males and females. (more…)

It’s called “Got” and has weighed 25 kilos. Is “very healthy, beautiful”, according to scientists who have helped him come into the world on a farm in the province of Palencia near town Frómista. His birth this morning has caused great excitement, since it is the first cloned bull born in Europe and possibly the world, a point that researchers Valencia Veterinary Research Foundation, responsible for the landmark, have yet to confirm because another computer scientist ViaGen powerhouse competition for the achievement. The child’s father is “fusion selection,” the best stallion of the prestigious livestock Alfonso Guardiola in Cadiz, and his mother a Friesian cow Yuso Melgar Palencia. It will not be the only bull cloned. Tomorrow, if there is trouble, another cow give birth to a second animal of the same characteristics, another clone on the father’s brother, whom they called “Glass.” (more…)