For the first time, scientists have identified a mutation in plants that was selected twice -- during both natural evolution and domestication. The mutation has been identified as the source of ...

The DNA mutations that drive evolution are generally thought to be fairly random, but a new study suggests there’s some order to the chaos. Comparing the genomes of hundreds of plants grown in a lab, ...

In the children’s game telephone, a whispered phrase like “I ate a pear” can quickly become “I hate bears” as it moves down a line of players. As genes are passed down from parents to offspring, they ...

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by scientists from Israel and Ghana shows that an evolutionarily significant mutation in the human APOL1 gene arises not ...

Analysis of wing variation within and between fly species reveals an unexpectedly slow evolutionary rate. Variations due to mutation and interspecific differences are similar, perhaps as a result of ...

The word mutation conjures many images in the popular mind, virtually all of them negative. Mutations in the human genome cause crippling birth abnormalities and are the source of innumerable genetic ...

When Charles Darwin began his voyage around the world aboard H.M.S. Beagle, he shared with his contemporaries the almost unquestioned belief that every species of plant and animal then inhabiting the ...

For a long time, evolutionary biologists have thought that the genetic mutations that drive the evolution of genes and proteins are largely neutral: they're neither good nor bad, but just ordinary ...

(Memphis, Tenn.—July 28, 2023) The influenza (flu) virus is constantly undergoing a process of evolution and adaptation through acquiring new mutations. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research ...

A team of scientists from Portugal has recently estimated the rate of mutation in two circulating variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) using experimental evolution ...

Mutation is one of the big driving forces behind evolution, as it can allow species to quickly gain the genetic tools necessary to survive and adapt. But even the perfect mutation can mean trouble if ...