Monday, August 1, 2011
Urban Evolution
NYT article on evolution of white-footed deer mice in NYC - parks are little genetic islands.
Dunbar paper on light and eye size in human
Interesting. They "..demonstrate a significant positive relationship between absolute latitude and human orbital volume"
Guardian recap HERE
Guardian recap HERE
Race and DNA testing
Good discussion topic for 204:
"Some geneticists, sociologists and bioethicists argue that “black,” “white,” “Asian” and “Hispanic” are antiquated categories that threaten to revive prejudices. Others, however, say that meaningful DNA variations can track racial lines and that ignoring them could deny many benefits of “personalized medicine,” which aims to develop tests and treatments tailored to a person’s genetic makeup."
"Some geneticists, sociologists and bioethicists argue that “black,” “white,” “Asian” and “Hispanic” are antiquated categories that threaten to revive prejudices. Others, however, say that meaningful DNA variations can track racial lines and that ignoring them could deny many benefits of “personalized medicine,” which aims to develop tests and treatments tailored to a person’s genetic makeup."
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
DNA from copulatory plugs can give insights into sexual selection
The authors use copulatory plugs to find out more about pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection in kangaroo rats. This is an interesting study on its own, but methods used might have some applications in primates as well.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
A novel form of oxytocin in New World monkeys
And we thought we understood the nonapeptides...
The protein sequence and structure of oxytocin is widely thought to be conserved among Eutherian mammals. Curiously, these researchers found a nonsynonymous mutation in a handful of platyrrhines and tree shrews, changing a leucine to proline at position 8 in the signal peptide. Of the noncatarrhines sampled, owl monkeys, capuchins, marmosets, squirrel monkeys and tree shrews had the mutation, while titi monkeys didn't.
I took a quick look at OXT across a handful of mammals after reading this study and found that in that 9 protein sequence, mouse lemurs and tarsiers shared the conserved sequence, suggesting that this was indeed convergent in the platyrrhines and tree shrews. Unfortunately, without sequencing this region in atelines and pitheciines, we don't know if titi's lost the P8 mutation or if it never evolved in that clade.
In a nonprimate note, it seems like elephants have protein changes at positions 3 and 4.
This is an exciting find and it will be very interesting to see what researchers are able to find out about the functional and evolutionary significance of these mutations.
The protein sequence and structure of oxytocin is widely thought to be conserved among Eutherian mammals. Curiously, these researchers found a nonsynonymous mutation in a handful of platyrrhines and tree shrews, changing a leucine to proline at position 8 in the signal peptide. Of the noncatarrhines sampled, owl monkeys, capuchins, marmosets, squirrel monkeys and tree shrews had the mutation, while titi monkeys didn't.
I took a quick look at OXT across a handful of mammals after reading this study and found that in that 9 protein sequence, mouse lemurs and tarsiers shared the conserved sequence, suggesting that this was indeed convergent in the platyrrhines and tree shrews. Unfortunately, without sequencing this region in atelines and pitheciines, we don't know if titi's lost the P8 mutation or if it never evolved in that clade.
In a nonprimate note, it seems like elephants have protein changes at positions 3 and 4.
This is an exciting find and it will be very interesting to see what researchers are able to find out about the functional and evolutionary significance of these mutations.
Female bonobos use copulation calls as social signals
Everything you've ever wanted to know about bonobo pillow talk?
To be a bit more serious, it's an interesting study, but I think this might be one of those statistical vs. biological significance issues.
To be a bit more serious, it's an interesting study, but I think this might be one of those statistical vs. biological significance issues.
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