Meet the scientist homing in on the genes involved in making parlor roller pigeons do backward somersaults ..read more

Ancient viruses have really gotten on our nerves, but in the best of ways. One particular retrovirus — embedded in the DNA of jawed vertebrates — helps turn on production of a protein needed to insulate nerve fibers, researchers report February 15 in Cell. Such insulation, called myelin, may have helped make speedy thoughts and complex brains possible. The retrovirus trick was so handy, in fact, that it showed up many times in the evolution of vertebrates with jaws, the team found. Retroviruses — also known as jumping genes or retrotransposons — are RNA viruses that make DNA copies of themselv ..read more

Allergy sufferers may one day be able to erase the source of their congestion, itchy skin and swollen lips and throat thanks to two studies that have uncovered elusive immune cells that maintain allergies over the long haul, often for a lifetime. A specialized type of immune cell called type 2 memory B cells or MBC2s hold the memory of proteins that cause allergies, two independent groups of researchers report February 7 in Science Translational Medicine. Memory B cells are important for long-lasting protection against infectious diseases, but this subset is primed to make the type of antibodi ..read more

Krystal Tsosie grew up playing in the wide expanse of the Navajo Nation, scrambling up sandstone rocks and hiking in canyons in Northern Arizona. But after her father started working as a power plant operator at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center, the family moved to the city. “That upbringing in a lower socioeconomic household in West Phoenix really made me think about what it meant to be a good advocate for my people and my community,” says Tsosie, who like other Navajo people refers to herself as Diné. Today, she’s a geneticist-bioethicist at Arizona State University in Tempe. The challenges ..read more

Ancient herders, who rode horses and drove ox-drawn carts west out of their grassy homelands in southwest Asia, erased a DNA divide between far-flung farmers and hunter-gatherers-fishers around 5,000 years ago. The molecular legacy of these ancient herders, known as the Yamnaya people, reshaped Eurasians’ genetic profile, impacting everything from their descendants’ height to their susceptibility to some diseases (SN: 3/3/23). For instance, it left people today with predominantly northern European ancestry especially prone to developing multiple sclerosis. An international team of researchers ..read more

A surge of a hormone made by fetuses triggers the stomach-turning nausea and vomiting of morning sickness, a new study suggests. People who have naturally low levels of the protein in their blood before pregnancy are more susceptible to a severe form of morning sickness called hyperemesis gravidarum when hit with the rush of protein, researchers report December 13 in Nature. The findings could help identify people at risk of the severe illness and lead to treatments. Up to 80 percent of pregnant people get nauseous in the early stages of pregnancy, and about half vomit — a combo of symptoms of ..read more

WASHINGTON — Scientists have uncovered a clue about why it takes so long for Huntington’s disease to develop. And they may have a lead on how to stop the fatal brain disease. Huntington’s is caused by a mistakenly repeated bit of a gene called HTT. Until recently, researchers thought the number of repeats a person is born with doesn’t change, though repeats may expand when passed to future generations. But in some brain cells, the repeats can grow over time to hundreds of copies, geneticist Bob Handsaker reported November 2 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics. Once ..read more

Genetic tweaks in kingfishers might help cushion the blow when the diving birds plunge beak first into the water to catch fish. Analysis of the genetic instruction book of some diving kingfishers identified changes in genes related to brain function as well as retina and blood vessel development, which might protect against damage during dives, researchers report October 24 in Communications Biology. The results suggest the different species of diving kingfishers may have adapted to survive their dives unscathed in some of the same ways, but it’s still unclear how the genetic changes protect t ..read more

Half a century ago, the first genetically modified organism ushered in a new era of biological innovation. To mark this anniversary, here are eight milestone GMOs. Many have had, or are poised to have, a dramatic impact on our lives. 1. Escherichia coli These E. coli are engineered to produce human insulin.Volker Steger/Science Source In November 1973, geneticist Stanley Cohen and colleagues reported that they had built a plasmid, a ring of DNA, that carried a gene from another organism into an E. coli cell — the birth of genetic engineering (SN: 6/1/74). The team later showed that s ..read more

Will Ungerer isn’t a typical fourth-grader. The 10-year-old from Midlothian, Va., plays tag with his friends and swims in the ocean. “I think his peers would describe him as someone who is kind, sweet and funny, and supersmart,” says his mother, Sheila Ungerer. He won a countywide citizenship award and was named classroom student of the year. But “he’s not a really fast runner,” his peers might say. “He doesn’t really run.” Will was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease that causes muscles throughout the body to break down over time. That includes not only skeletal muscles ..read more