Genetics

Plants

Tweaking how plants manage a crisis boosts photosynthesis

Shortening plants’ recovery time after blasts of excessive light can boost crop growth.

Health & Medicine

Chinese patient is first to be treated with CRISPR-edited cells

Researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 to engineer immune cells that were then injected into a patient with lung cancer, the journal Nature reports.

Genetics

Cancer mutation patterns differ in smokers, nonsmokers

The DNA of smokers shows more damage than the DNA of nonsmokers who have the same kind of cancer.

Genetics

Gene gives mice and chipmunks their pinstripes

A recycled regulator paints on rodents’ light stripes.

Genetics

Genetic variant protects against rash of autoimmune diseases

A natural tweak in the TYK2 protein strikes a balance between weak and overactive immune systems.

Genetics

Protective genetic variant may offer a path to future autoimmune therapies

A natural tweak in the TYK2 protein strikes a balance between weak and overactive immune systems.

Genetics

Ancient hookups gave chimps a smidge of bonobo DNA

Genetic evidence suggests bonobos and chimpanzees interbred after becoming separate species.

Genetics

HIV came to NYC at least a decade before virus ID’d

DNA analysis of early viral strains tracks U.S. debut to early ’70s

Genetics

DNA data offer evidence of unknown extinct human relative

Melanesians may carry genetic evidence of a previously unknown extinct human relative.

Animals

Maps show genetic diversity in mammals, amphibians around the world

Maps of genetic diversity within mammal and amphibian species provide a baseline for understanding the effects of human activity and climate change on animals.

Genetics

Zika disrupts cellular processes to impair brain development

Discoveries about how Zika virus slows brain cell development could lead to treatments.

Genetics

Readers question the biology of alcoholism and more

Alcoholism-linked genes, making better corneas and more in reader feedback.