The discovery of a ten-generation m.C1494T pedigree in the east of England with probable links to King Richard III.

This paper reports the discovery of a m.C1494T pedigree in the east of England made during a search for matrilineal relations of King Richard III. The mitochondrial DNA variant m.

Humanin P3S, haplogroup N1b and the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

A commentary of the paper 'Humanin variant P3S is associated with longevity in APOE4 carriers and resists APOE4-induced brain pathology' that appeared recently in Aging Cell. The possible association of a mitochondrial haplogroup with a disease is frequently discussed. The Humanin peptide encoded by the mtDNA has been shown to play an important regulatory role in cell metabolism.

Pseudogenization of the gene is common in the mitochondrial DNA of many vertebrates.

In the human the peptide Humanin is produced from the small gene which is embedded as a gene-within-a-gene in the 16S ribosomal molecule of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The peptide itself appears to be significant in the prevention of cell death in many tissues and improve cognition in animal models. By using simple data mining techniques, it is possible to show that 99.

ZIKA--How fast does this virus mutate?

The World Health Organization has declared the present Zika virus epidemic to be a 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern'. The virus appears to have spread from Thailand to French Polynesia in 2013, and has since infected over a million people in the countries of South and Central America. In most cases the infection is mild and transient, but the virus does appear to be strongly neurotropic and the presumptive cause of both birth defects in fetuses and Guillain-Barré syndrome in some adults.