Genetics news for genealogists — Genetic Current

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint proposes STING HAQ allele was positively selected during human Out of Africa migration and may have worsened smallpox mortality in Native Americans

A bioRxiv preprint presents population-genetic evidence that a common STING allele impairing innate antiviral immunity was selected outside Africa and may have contributed to catastrophic post-Columbian smallpox mortality.

2026-09-10 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Researchers · Educators · Students

PLOS Genetics study finds APOE ε4 biological consequences vary between industrialised and non-industrial populations

Researchers examining APOE isoform effects across diverse human populations report that the ε4 allele's associations with cholesterol biology and disease risk differ markedly depending on environmental context.

2026-09-10 · 1 source · Public Library of Science

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint: human accelerated region HACNS1 drives opposing developmental timing shifts in face and limb

A genetically humanised mouse study finds that the human accelerated region HACNS1 speeds up craniofacial development while slowing limb development, implicating regulatory enhancers in the evolution of human-specific developmental timing.

2026-09-11 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Endogenous retrovirus K111 traces structural diversification of human acrocentric chromosomes across great-ape evolution

A preprint uses the embedded retroviral sequence K111 as a genomic marker to reveal how the nucleolar organiser regions on human acrocentric chromosomes have expanded and diversified relative to other great apes.

2026-09-13 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

New Y. pestis genomes shed light on plague's return after the Black Death

A preprint reports 23 new Yersinia pestis genomes from Second Plague Pandemic contexts across Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Iceland, and Armenia, spanning roughly 270 years of post-Black Death epidemics.

2026-08-29 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint traces wolf range expansion and dynamic admixture zones across Central Europe

A preprint drawing on five years of large-scale monitoring in the Czech Republic and Slovakia describes substantial range shifts, novel sympatric zones, and asymmetric gene flow between historically distinct wolf populations.

2026-09-05 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

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Chromosome evolution follows a limited set of irreversible 'evolutionary highways', large-scale study finds

An analysis of thousands of animal genomes suggests chromosomal rearrangements across 600 million years of evolution are far from random, instead channelling through a constrained set of one-way trajectories.

2026-08-26 · 1 source · ScienceDaily

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Genealogists · Educators

Preprint: Elston–Stewart algorithm applied to exact Y-STR match probability calculation in pedigree forensics

A bioRxiv preprint describes how the Elston–Stewart algorithm can be adapted to calculate exact pedigree-based match probabilities for Y-chromosomal STR profiles, addressing a longstanding challenge in forensic genetics.

2026-08-20 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Ancient DNA from Balkan refugium reshapes picture of post-glacial European ancestry

A bioRxiv preprint presents genome-wide data from nine newly reported individuals spanning the Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic Balkans, revealing a pan-European genetic legacy from the region's Last Glacial Maximum refugium.

2026-08-10 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint: New computational method recovers nuclear DNA from the heavily contaminated Teshik-Tash 1 Neandertal

Researchers present admixslug, a method for analysing low-quality archaic human genomes under high modern-human contamination, and apply it to the Teshik-Tash 1 child — the south-easternmost known Neandertal.

2026-08-15 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

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Ancient DNA from 534 Iron Age burials points to matrilineal social organisation in northeast England

A preprint analysing genome-wide data from the Arras Culture of Middle Iron Age northeast England, including 390 individuals from Wetwang, finds evidence for matrilineal descent and recurrent unions between dominant matrilines.

2026-08-07 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Nation-wide population register used to estimate forensic genetic genealogy match rates

A preprint using Israeli registry data provides the first country-scale empirical estimate of how often forensic investigative genetic genealogy can link an unknown individual to a relative in a consumer genomic database.

2026-08-13 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint: Robertsonian translocations in Danish sika deer may act as barrier to hybridisation with red deer

Chromosomal analysis of sika and red deer in Denmark finds variable Robertsonian translocations in sika that could prevent fertile first-generation hybrids, with implications for EU invasive-species policy.

2026-08-15 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

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Two previously unknown hominin lineages detected in modern human genomes

Genomic analysis has identified signatures of introgression from two distinct extinct human populations beyond the Neanderthal and Denisovan contributions already known from ancient DNA research.

2026-08-02 · 1 source · ScienceDaily

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint maps 25 years of human genetics research in Wikipedia and AI-generated text

An analysis of more than three million Wikipedia revisions across nearly 7,000 pages finds genetics terminology is disproportionately concentrated in articles about nationality and ethnicity, raising questions about how research on human genetic diversity is synthesised for public audiences.

2026-08-05 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

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Ancient DNA reveals koalas survived near-extinction 100,000 years ago

A genome-wide study has calculated the koala's mutation rate for the first time and traced all living koalas to a small ancestral population that endured a climate-driven bottleneck long before human settlement of Australia.

2026-07-19 · 1 source · ScienceDaily

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Monotremes reveal previously unknown diversity in the DMRT gene family central to sexual development

A bioRxiv preprint reports that platypus and echidna carry novel DMRT gene arrangements, filling gaps in understanding of how this conserved sex-determination gene family evolved across vertebrates.

2026-07-21 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint identifies cryptic genetic lineage of European flat oyster in Northern France

A preprint combining SNP array genotyping and whole-genome sequencing has detected a previously undescribed local genetic cluster of Ostrea edulis along French Atlantic and Channel coasts, with implications for conservation translocation programmes.

2026-06-29 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint: retaining close relatives in biobanks improves estimates of recent effective population size

A benchmarking study challenges the standard practice of removing related individuals before demographic inference, showing that close relatives carry useful signal about recent population history.

2026-06-20 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Pleiotropic EPAS1 enhancer behind Tibetan high-altitude adaptation is active in fat cells, preprint reports

Researchers describe a regulatory element within the Tibetan adaptive EPAS1 haplotype that shows blunted hypoxia response and is also active in adipocytes, suggesting cold-climate adaptation may be part of the same selective sweep.

2026-06-16 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Ancient DNA links elite Classic Maya tomb lineages to individuals buried in distant caves

A preprint screening 487 skeletal samples from Classic Period Maya sites uses genetic kinship analysis to connect high-status tomb occupants with individuals whose remains were deposited in geographically separate cave contexts.

2026-06-11 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

LsBADH1 gene identified as the genetic basis of sweet fragrance in lettuce varieties

A bioRxiv preprint reports that a betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase gene, LsBADH1, is responsible for the production of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline — the compound behind the characteristic sweet fragrance of certain lettuce cultivars.

2026-06-17 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Mitotree preprint offers a universal human mitochondrial reference phylogeny at ten times previous resolution

A new actively maintained mtDNA reference tree incorporating hundreds of thousands of sequences replaces the retired PhyloTree resource and substantially increases haplogroup resolution for population and ancestry research.

2026-05-30 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

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Study proposes sexual reproduction as a driver of the Cambrian-era burst in animal evolutionary diversity

Research described by ScienceDaily suggests that Earth's earliest animals may have held back their own evolutionary diversification through asexual reproduction, and that environmental pressures favouring sexual reproduction were associated with a subsequent acceleration in biodiversity.

2026-06-10 · 1 source · ScienceDaily

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Genealogists

Preprint presents PEC algorithm for correcting pedigree errors using haplotype and SNP-chip data

A new computational tool, PEC, reconciles pedigree records against SNP-chip genotype data using linkage disequilibrium blocks and haplotype matching, offering improved accuracy and efficiency for livestock and research pedigrees.

2026-06-05 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint finds cultural affiliation, not geography, drives most variation in prehistoric burial practices

A bioRxiv preprint combining ancient DNA genomics with a new interdisciplinary burial-rite database reports that cultural affiliation accounts for the majority of spatiotemporal variation in prehistoric mortuary practices.

2026-05-29 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

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Large-scale genomic study identifies previously unrecognised third ancestral lineage in Japan

Analysis of thousands of Japanese genomes reveals evidence for a distinct ancestral component linked to the ancient Emishi people, challenging the long-held dual-origins model of Japanese population history.

2026-05-16 · 1 source · ScienceDaily

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Genealogists

Oldest Caribbean genomes extend the genetic record of the region by over a millennium

Genome-wide data from 19 individuals on Hispaniola, including four from the earliest pre-Ceramic Lithic Age occupation, reveal a single ancestry source for early Caribbean populations and affinities to Central and South America.

2026-05-16 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint introduces kinference software for pairwise kinship detection in wildlife population studies

A bioRxiv preprint presents kinference, a tool designed to identify closely related pairs of individuals for Close-Kin Mark-Recapture analyses, a genomic approach increasingly used to estimate population size and demography in fish and wildlife management.

2026-05-21 · 1 source · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Preprint · not peer-reviewed Researchers · Educators · Students

Preprint develops population genetic theory for how bottlenecks shape mean fitness and inbreeding depression

Theoretical work on bioRxiv extends population genetic models to describe how a sudden reduction in population size alters the exposure of deleterious recessive alleles to selection and the long-term trajectory of inbreeding depression.

2026-05-22 · 1 source · bioRxiv

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Nature Genetics review synthesises insights into human adaptation from ancient DNA

A review article in Nature Genetics surveys how ancient genomic data have transformed understanding of which genetic variants were favoured by natural selection across human prehistory.

2026-05-16 · 1 source · Springer Nature

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Genomic analysis of African populations supports multiregional model of human origins

Researchers studying genetic data from diverse African groups, including the Nama people, find evidence that modern humans evolved from multiple interconnected populations rather than a single ancestral source.

2026-05-16 · 1 source · ScienceDaily

Educational summaries of public genetics news