Sequencing and Analysis of the Hydra Genome
Chapman, Kirkness et al., Nature
An international research collaboration reports their sequencing and analysis of the Hydra magnipapillata genome, and compare it to the genomes of several other organisms. "The Hydra genome has been shaped by bursts of transposable element expansion, horizontal gene transfer, trans-splicing, and simplification of gene structure and gene content that parallel simplification of the Hydra life cycle," the authors write. They team suggests that comparisons of the Hydra genome to the reported sequences of other animals have helped them to elucidate the evolution of several of the organism's characteristics.
Have Your Browser Do All the Work
July 07, 2009
To make your browsing experience even better, Bitesize Bio's Nick Oswald names the top 10 Firefox add-ons for scientists that have surfaced since his original 2007 list. On it are the Wired marker which acts as a highlighter for Web pages; TimerFox, which lets you set an alarm in your browser window; and i-cite, which "mashes up content from PubMed, EBI, and Google Scholar," among other handy tools.
