The sticky fruit of the date palm has a tangled history. New research in G3 explores the palm’s genetic diversity and traces its earliest cultivation to at least two distinct regions in North Africa and the Arabian Gulf. The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is one of the world’s oldest cultivated trees and has close ties…

Long-time GSA member and former Drosophila Board President Denise Montell gave a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss her research on “Life, Death, and Resurrection at the Cellular Level.” This July 29 event was sponsored by the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus and organized by the Coalition for the Life Sciences.   “Life, Death, and Resurrection at…

Former GSA President Judith Kimble has been appointed by President Obama to chair the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science. Established by Congress in 1959, the medal is considered to be the nation’s highest scientific honor and is “awarded to individuals deserving special recognition by reason of outstanding contributions to knowledge or the…

Technical tips and progress on worm CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering   Today’s guest post was contributed by Mike Boxem, Daniel Dickinson, and Alexandre Paix. Mike Boxem is a group leader at Utrecht University. His interests include technology development, systems biology, and cell polarity. Daniel Dickinson is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of North Carolina.  His interests include…

Today’s guest post is contributed by Todd Plummer, a Research Associate in Gordon Lithgow’s lab at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. Todd is a certified California Naturalist interested in the ecological relationships that affect wild strains of worms used as model organisms. Follow him on Twitter: @plumtodd  This post first appeared on SAGE, a blog focused on the science…

Bdelloid rotifers have been veiled in mystery for decades. Despite extensive studies of this class of tiny freshwater invertebrates, no one has observed any trace of sex: no proven males, hermaphrodites, mating, or meiosis. Unlike other asexual organisms, which tend to be short-lived in evolutionary history, the apparently asexual bdelloid rotifers have managed to persist…

If not for a single-nucleotide mutation, each kernel on a juicy corn cob would be trapped inside an inedible casing as tough as a walnut shell. In the July issue of GENETICS, Wang et al. identify an amino acid substitution that was key to the development of the so-called “naked” kernels that characterize modern corn…

Three GSA members have been named by the Damon Ruyon Cancer Research Foundation as Damon Runyon Fellows. The recipients of this prestigious, four-year award are outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators across the country. Congratulations to: Lacy J. Barton, PhD (project) Sponsor, Ruth Lehmann, PhD Skirball Institute…

Check out the July issue of G3! INVESTIGATIONS Multiple Conserved Heteroplasmic Sites in tRNA Genes in the Mitochondrial Genomes of Terrestrial Isopods (Oniscidea) Christopher H. Chandler, Myriam Badawi, Bouziane Moumen, Pierre Grève, and Richard Cordaux G3 July 2015 5:1317-1322; Early Online April 24, 2015, doi:10.1534/g3.115.018283 Abstract | Full Text | Full Text (PDF) | Supporting…

NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has issued a request for applications for its new Research Program Award (RPA), which is designed to provide longer-term support and increased flexibility to investigators conducting neuroscience-related research. An RPA will generally support all NINDS-related research in a laboratory with up to $750,000 per year in direct…

Allelic expression in the mouse genome is surprisingly unbalanced, according to new research published in the June issue of GENETICS. The factors that determine how a gene is expressed in a given cell are complex. After all, every mammalian cell contains two copies of each gene, and both versions of that gene, called alleles, play…