A new method furthers understanding of evolutionary genetics

Photo Credit: zmescience.com

"Since Darwin, evolutionary biologists have been fascinated by how different organisms are from one another. The ultimate goal is to understand how mutations in DNA, the genetic blueprint, shape the growth and behavior of animals, plants, and microbes around us. 

Standard research tools have been available for some time to study the genetics of closely related individuals—for example, the variation of lactose intolerance between humans. But understanding differences between long-separated species has remained a challenge. 

Publishing online in Nature, Buck Institute professor Rachel Brem and her colleagues have broken through this roadblock by focusing on distantly-related species of yeast, the single-celled organism used to make beer, wine and bread.

"Yeast is an easy system to work with and a good model for more complicated organisms," said Brem. "It was a great platform for us to develop a method for discovering what makes species unique."

The researchers first noted that some species of yeast were much better than others at deriving energy from galactose, a sugar found in plant materials..."

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