In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA. The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as regulatory sequences, and often a substantial fraction of junk DNA with no evident function. Almost all eukaryotes have mitochondria and a small mitochondrial genome. Algae and plants also contain chloroplasts with a chloroplast genome.
Tuatara are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Despite their close resemblance to lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. The name tuatara is derived from the Māori language and means "peaks on the back".
A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. They have a higher mutation rate than other areas of DNA leading to high genetic diversity. Microsatellites are often referred to as short tandem repeats (STRs) by forensic geneticists and in genetic genealogy, or as simple sequence repeats (SSRs) by plant geneticists.
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) or lateral gene transfer (LGT) is the movement of genetic material between organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offspring (reproduction). HGT is an important factor in the evolution of many organisms. HGT is influencing scientific understanding of higher order evolution while more significantly shifting perspectives on bacterial evolution.
David Hibbett is an associate professor in biology at Clark University. He is considered one of today's leading researchers "in the analysis of fungal relationships through DNA analysis." At Clark he concentrates his lab work in evolutionary biology and ecology of Fungi.
Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Also known as bayroot, they arose from within the arum or aroid family (Araceae), so often are classified as the subfamily Lemnoideae within the family Araceae. Other classifications, particularly those created prior to the end of the twentieth century, place them as a separate family, Lemnaceae.
Diethard Tautz is a German biologist and geneticist, who is primarily concerned with the molecular basis of the evolution of mammals. Since 2006 he is director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön.
Archelosauria is a clade grouping turtles and archosaurs and their fossil relatives, to the exclusion of lepidosaurs. The majority of phylogenetic analyses based on molecular data have supported a sister-group relationship between turtles and archosaurs. On the other hand, Archelosauria had not been historically supported by most morphological analyses, which have instead found turtles to either be descendants of parareptiles, early-diverging diapsids outside of Sauria, or close relatives of lepidosaurs within the clade Ankylopoda. Some recent morphological analyses have also found support for Archelosauria.
Alison Marion Cree is a New Zealand herpetologist. She is currently a professor at Otago University.
David P. Mindell is an American evolutionary biologist and author. He is currently a senior researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Mindell's work is focused on the systematics, conservation and molecular evolution of birds, especially birds of prey. He is known for his 2006 book, The Evolving World in which he explained, for the general public, how evolution applies to everyday life.
Mary Morgan-Richards is a New Zealand biologist, and as of 2019 is a full professor at Massey University.
Suzanne Georgina Pitama is a New Zealand academic, is Māori, of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Whare descent and as of 2020 is a full professor at the University of Otago in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Janice Marjorie Lord is a New Zealand academic, a plant evolutionary biologist, and as of 2020 is an associate professor at the University of Otago, where she is the curator of the Otago Regional Herbarium.
Christine Jasoni is an American-born New Zealand academic specialising in foetal neural development. She is a professor at the University of Otago and has been the director of the university's Brain Health Research Centre since 2016. In 2020 she was elected a Ngā Takahoa a Te Apārangi Companion of Royal Society Te Apārangi.
Philippa Marion Wiggins was a New Zealand academic, who made significant contributions to the understanding of the structure of water in living cells.
Priscilla M. Wehi is a New Zealand ethnobiologist and conservation biologist. As at July 2021 she is an associate professor at the University of Otago and on the first of that month officially undertook the role of director of Te Pūnaha Matatini, a centre of research excellence in complex systems and data analytics. During the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand Te Pūnaha Matatini scientists have developed mathematical models of the spread of the virus across the country that influence the New Zealand government's response to the outbreak. In 2021 Wehi was awarded the Hill Tinsley Medal.
Diana Florence Hill is a New Zealand academic, and a full professor at the University of Otago, specialising in molecular genetics. Hill's team's work on the genetics of animal production was awarded a Silver Medal by the Royal Society in 1996. She has been a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi since 1997.
Janet Mary Wilmshurst is a New Zealand palaeoecologist who works on reconstructing the ecological past. Wilmshurst has been a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi since 2015. She was president of the New Zealand Ecological Society, and currently works as principal scientist in long-term ecology at Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research focusing on recent fossil records to reconstruct and trace past ecosystem changes in response to natural disturbance.
Alana Alexander is a New Zealand bioinformatician at the University of Otago. In 2021, she was awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship to investigate the past impacts of fisheries on Hector's and Māui dolphins, and use genomics to inform models of the future effects of climate change on whales and dolphins.
SallyAnn Harbison is a New Zealand forensic scientist. She leads the forensic biology team at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research, and is an associate professor at the University of Auckland. Harbison was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2021 and in the same year was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.
