A variant of a gene involved in communication among brain cells has a direct influence on alcohol consumption in mice, according to a new study by scientists supported by the National Institute on…

Most of us take it for granted that plants respond to light by growing, flowering and straining towards the light, and we never wonder just how plants manage to do so. But the ordinary, everyday…

“When biologists talk about the ‘Battle of the Sexes,’ they often tacitly assume that the battle is between persistent males who always want to mate and females who don’t,” says Jakob Bro-Jørgensen…

Mutant mice could provide genetic clues to understanding incurable human sight loss resulting from retinal degeneration. Research published in the online open access journal Genome Biology uncovers a…

There is a new twist on the question of how biological clocks work. In recent years, scientists have discovered that biological clocks help organize a dizzying array of biochemical processes in the…

Newly launched nerve cells in a growing embryo must chart their course to distant destinations, and many of the means they use to navigate have yet to surface. In a study published in the current…

Researchers writing in BMC Genomics reveal that the grapevine's gene expression analysis reveals two distinct molecular and functional phases that correspond with the green and red grape stages.…

Sexy dads produce sexy sons, in the insect world at least. While scientists already knew that specific attractive traits, from cricket choruses to peacocks’ tails, are passed on to their offspring,…

Three decades have passed since gene therapy pioneer William W. Hauswirth, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of Florida began work on a virus that could safely deliver corrective genes into…

Researchers are closer to understanding why humans differ so greatly from chimpanzees in the way they look, behave, think, and fight off disease, despite having genes that are nearly 99% identical.…