Political Ecology

Because of their comprehensive nature, we believe the results of our autosomal microsatellite survey present a resolution to this issue with regard to human genetic relationships. The fact that the STRUCTURE cluster containing Micronesians, Samoans, and Maoris has a detectable signature only in Oceanic-speaking Melanesians and Taiwan Aborigines supports the position that an expansion of [...]

Alkanes, the major constituents of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, are naturally produced by diverse species; however, the genetics and biochemistry behind this biology have remained elusive. Here we describe the discovery of an alkane biosynthesis pathway from cyanobacteria. The pathway consists of an acyl–acyl carrier protein reductase and an aldehyde decarbonylase, which together convert [...]

Owing to exceptional biomolecule preservation, fossil avian eggshell has been used extensively in geochronology and palaeodietary studies. Here, we show, to our knowledge, for the first time that fossil eggshell is a previously unrecognized source of ancient DNA (aDNA). We describe the successful isolation and amplification of DNA from fossil eggshell up to 19 ka [...]

Currently, biomass materials like corn stover and switchgrass must undergo a series of pretreatments to loosen the cellular structure enough to extract the sugar cellulose. Brown said these treatments add new challenges because, although they are necessary, they create a range of chemicals known as inhibitors that stall or stop microorganisms like Z. mobilis from [...]

A breakthrough by a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers at the GLBRC has made it possible to perform genetic analysis on Cellvibrio japonicus, a promising bacterium that has long been known to convert biomass to sugars. Using a technique called vector integration, the team has developed a method to generate a mutation in any [...]

In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, UBC Botany Prof. Patrick Keeling describes the genome of Chromera and its role in definitively linking the evolutionary histories of malaria and dinoflalgellate algae. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1003335107

[BEIJING] Scientists are calling for more thorough risk assessments for genetically modified crops after they discovered a surge in pests in a region planted with Bt cotton.Their fifteen-year study surveyed a region of northern China where ten million small-scale farmers grow nearly three million hectares of Bt cotton, and 26 million hectares of other crops. [...]