Epigenetics: Study identifies the genes and epigenetic factors that make hybrids infertile

Darkfrog submitted, created time 4 weeks 11 hours (www.nature.com)

Geneticists out of the Czech Republic's Academy of Sciences have identified the gene that makes hybrids infertile. They're calling it Prdm9. This is the first time that such a gene has been identified in mammals. (Fruit flies are known to have comparable genes.)

One of the definitions of a species is a group of organisms that can reproduce and create fertile young. The offspring of say, a horse and a donkey or a lion and a tiger tend to be sterile. (Polar bears and grizzly bears produce non-sterile hybrids, so many teachers add the caveat "in the wild

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Endangered or not? Canis lupis is tossed to the wolves.

Darkfrog submitted, created time 2 months 3 weeks (www.nature.com)

There are two issues at hand regarding the gray wolf (Canis lupus). The first is the U.S. legal battle over whether the wolves should have and retain endangered status (hunting has recently resumed in a few midwestern states). The other is slightly different: scientists must form their own opinion about whether the gray wolf meets the criteria for "endangered." Some argue that the wolf populations have recovered. The key argument against this is that the wolves who have returned to the depleted areas may not be the same precise kind of wolf that was killed off during the twentieth century

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