Monday Morning Coffee Break: December 12

(Credit: Amanda Montanez) 

#mosquitos #emergingdiseases #vectors #geneticallymodified

In the News: Biodiversity in Beer and Nut-cracking Monkeys

Fig.1. Some beer labels now display Genebank accession numbers. (Credit: Ove Fosså.)

A powerful DNA tool holds the answers to crop population genetic variations, and archaeologists discover tools that monkeys used to get their nut fix. That and more in our science news roundup.

• As we shared last week in our video, high-throughput sequencing is a powerful tool available to scientists. This team used it to identify small genetic differences in plant crop populations: Exploring Genetic Diversity in Plants Using High-Throughput Sequencing Techniques, Current Genomics (August 2016)
• We've talked about beer made with wild yeast - here's an assessment of how many barley varieties are actually utilized by the industry. You know the number is low when there is a brewery putting Genebank accession numbers on its labels: The biodiversity of beer, Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog (5 July 2016)
• Ocean ice and sediment cores reveal a new connection between ocean circulation and climate patterns during the last ice age: Ocean circulation implicated in past abrupt climate changes, Science Daily (30 June 2016) 
• Humans aren’t the only ones with a history of using tools. Primate archaeologists have found evidence of 700-year-old tools used by capuchin monkeys to crack open nuts: Monkeys used stone tools 700 years ago, BBC News (12 July 2016)
• If you study cancer, you probably were excited to hear about a new initiative to double the world’s number of cancer cell lines available to researchers (to 1,000!): Global Initiative Seeks 1,000 New Cancer Models, Scientific American (11 July 2016)

A Brief History Camels (And Humans)

Fig.1. Dromedaries in Israel (Credit: Wilson, 2011)

For the past 3,000 years, single-humped camels, known as dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius), have provided an important source of food and transport to desert communities. The origin of the domesticated dromedary, however, remains relatively unknown. A recent article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals some clues as to where and when humans started to depend upon these animals.

Teosinte Today, Maize Tomorrow

Fig.1. This photo, published in 1919, shows the stages between a simple spike of Euchlaena mexicana and an ear of maize. (Credit: Journal of Agriculture)

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, associate professor and section chair of the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California at Davis, and his team study maize and teosinte evolution. Researchers and post-docs - with backgrounds in plant biology and population biology and integrated genetics and genomics - focus on various research areas, such as genetics and genomics, how human and environmental factors have affected the adaptation and domestication of crops and more.

“Domestication (of the crop) has always struck me as a really exciting story because it’s a case where the evolution of the plant was directed by, or affected by, humans,” Ross-Ibarra said about how he became interested in maize and teosinte research.

In the News: Filter-Feeders and Whale Drones

Fig.1. This basking shark is one of several species that independently evolved the ability to filter feed (Credit: Greg Skormal/NOAA Fisheries Service, 2011)

Breathalyzer tests for whales and climate change-fighting sea creatures are part of ongoing research in marine animal science. Read to learn more about checking the health of whales, the unusual octopus genome, plankton-feeding sharks, and more!

Monday Morning Coffee Break: Sept. 21

(Credit: Michael Palmer, Wikipedia) 

#sheep #genetics #DNA #mDNA #mitochondria #DNAanalysis