All articles tagged with #genomesequencing
Bolivian researchers announced Leopardus tilcayo, a small wild cat with a leopard-like coat found in the Yungas mountains near La Paz. The discovery, supported by whole-genome sequencing and published in Current Biology, marks the first newly described feline since 1923 and so far appears confined to Bolivia, with the species listed as vulnerable.
Scientists sequencing the woolly rhino genome from preserved muscle found in a 14,400-year-old wolf pup’s stomach reveal the rhino population remained viable in northern Siberia until near the end of the Ice Age, with extinction likely driven rapidly by climate warming rather than human hunting.
Researchers at the University of Maryland have identified an enzyme called bilirubin reductase (BilR) that is responsible for converting the orange bilirubin gut compound into the yellow urobilin in the liver, solving the long-standing mystery of what exactly makes urine yellow. This discovery, made possible by advanced genome sequencing technology and the study of gut bacteria, has implications for understanding and treating conditions like jaundice, gallstones, and inflammatory bowel disease.