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News From the Field

New method helps map species' genetic heritage


December 11, 2014

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Where did the songbird get its song? What branch of the bird family tree is closer to the flamingo--the heron or the sparrow? These questions seem simple, but are actually difficult for geneticists to answer. A new, sophisticated technique called statistical binning developed by researchers at the University of Illinois and the University of Texas at Austin can help researchers construct more accurate species trees detailing the lineage of genes and the relationships between species.Full Story

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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