Scienceblogtwo

Scientists have recently announced a revolutionary method for programmable chromosome fusion that has successfully produced mice with genetic alterations that occur on a million-year evolutionary scale in the lab. In nature, evolutionary chromosomal changes may take a million years. The discoveries may help us understand how chromosomal rearrangements, the equal amounts of organized genes produced by each parent that line up and trade or mix traits to create kids, affect evolution. In a study that was published in the journal Science, the researchers demonstrate that animals are capable of chromosomal level engineering. They were succeeded in producing a lab house mouse with a distinctive and long-lasting karyotype, providing critical information about how chromosome rearrangements might affect evolution. "The laboratory house mouse has maintained a standard 40-chromosome karyotype after more than 100 years of artificial breeding," said Li Zhikun, co-first author and research...