When it comes to the architecture of the human genome, it’s only a matter of time before harmful genes — genes that could compromise future generations — arise in a population. These mutations accumulate in the gene pool, primarily affected by a population’s size and practices like marrying within a small community. New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal provides rare direct evidence showing that increased homozygosity — meaning two identical alleles in a genome — leads to negative effects on fertility in a human population.
UC Davis College of Letters and Science graduate programs in psychology, statistics and earth science rank in the top 20 in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Graduate Schools rankings.
The University of California, Davis, is receiving a nearly $3 million award from the National Science Foundation to train the next generation of marine scientists under a new paradigm that puts a focus on policy at the front end of research.
UC Davis leads its fellow campuses in enrollment through the UC MEXUS-CONACYT Doctoral Fellowship Program. One of the talented graduate students is Natalia Lopez Carranza in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, who is studying the evolution of marine invertebrates that date back more than 500 million years.