How to Use gene flow in a Sentence

gene flow

noun
  • There had been, according to the study, almost no gene flow between the two groups.
    — Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 11 May 2018
  • These examples suggest that adaptive gene flow may play an important role in oak evolution.
    — Andrew L. Hipp, Scientific American, 15 July 2020
  • Panama has always played a crucial role in the movement and gene flow of numerous neotropical forest species.
    — Debbie Ponchner, Scientific American, 19 Aug. 2019
  • This could help researchers to better understand how the birds’ dispersal of stick insect eggs affects the gene flow of the insects.
    — Julissa Treviño, Smithsonian, 30 May 2018
  • Roads can prevent species from migrating, constrain gene flow in animal populations and shrink their range.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 19 Dec. 2016
  • In Japan, for example, there was a massive gene flow from Korea during the Bronze Age.
    — Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 22 Dec. 2021
  • The gene flow also provides insight on the spread of Neanderthal genes once humans began settling in other areas of the world.
    — Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 12 Dec. 2024
  • There's also an indication of gene flow from a ghost population into the Denisovan lineage, which has been seen in other studies.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Feb. 2020
  • Biologists study these population structures to understand how genes flow.
    — John Rennie, WIRED, 1 July 2018
  • Yet oaks form what is called a syngameon, in which ecologically and physically distinctive species persist in spite of ongoing gene flow.
    — Andrew L. Hipp, Scientific American, 15 July 2020
  • In small populations with restricted growth and little gene flow from the outside, even less helpful genetic features can become more commonplace through sheer chance.
    — Quanta Magazine, 21 Apr. 2021
  • As a result, Zambia’s lions exhibit gene flow in mitochondrial, rather than nuclear, genes.
    — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, 28 Sep. 2019
  • People could lend eelgrass a helping hand, Kollars says, either by moving seeds and plants around to increase gene flow or by using eelgrass nurseries to support restoration efforts.
    — Rebecca Dzombak, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Aug. 2022
  • The model that included gene flow from archaic hominins produced results that more closely matched up to actual human populations in the region.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 25 June 2019
  • Their analytical model can also be applied to dogs and horses — indeed, to any species that show structured breeding in their populations instead of random gene flow.
    — Quanta Magazine, 18 Sep. 2017
  • Scientists characterized the clusters with five attributes, such as those with the greatest genetic diversity, or with improving gene flow across the network.
    — Keith Ridler, idahostatesman, 6 June 2018
  • Traphagen says the wall won’t just affect individual locales like San Bernardino, but could change migration and gene flow at a continental scale.
    — Richard Laugharn, National Geographic, 2 Nov. 2020
  • Clues are emerging about the unexpected influence of gene flow from ancient hominins on modern human populations before the latter left Africa.
    — Wired, 1 Sep. 2019
  • Several research groups are developing tools to accelerate gene flow in plants and animals, to create varietals of trees and corals that can adapt to their changing environments.
    — Andrea Gawrylewski, Scientific American, 11 July 2019
  • According to Solomon, another big factor in modern evolution is gene flow, the movement of genes between different populations.
    — Avery Hurt, Discover Magazine, 4 Feb. 2022
  • The areas of the human genome that had no traces of Neanderthal ancestry, the studies suggest, were quickly stripped of Neanderthal sequences through evolution after the gene flow.
    — Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 12 Dec. 2024
  • The new deep learning method is an attempt to do better, by seeking to explain levels of gene flow that are too small for the usual statistical approaches, and by offering a far more vast and complicated range of models to do so.
    — Jordana Cepelewicz, WIRED, 10 Feb. 2019
  • This doesn’t allow a lot of gene flow—and seemingly surpassable obstacles, like small stretches of deep water—have provided enough separation for the animals to uniquely evolve in different places.
    — National Geographic, 23 Jan. 2020
  • Many researchers, such as Marcus Feldman, assume that this sort of correspondence is a natural outgrowth of the fact that gene flow tends to be demarcated by dialect continuums.
    — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 16 May 2011
  • Border wall construction in Arizona and New Mexico could also impede their movement and limit gene flow, as conservationists have been warning, for all kinds of wildlife.
    — Sarah Henry, AZCentral.com, 28 Nov. 2025
  • Exactly where this gene flow took place—whether on the South American coast or in the Marquesas Islands (where it first appeared)—cannot be answered with current genetic evidence.
    — Scientific American, 16 Aug. 2021
  • Evolution is the primary hypothesis, but the authors note there are other explanations that need to be ruled out, such as gene flow, when individuals from elsewhere, such as the mountain birds, enter the population.
    — Taylor Nicioli, CNN Money, 12 Jan. 2026
  • The relatively recent gene flow from Neanderthals into modern humans is there, as is an earlier one from the ancestors of modern humans into early Neanderthals.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Feb. 2020
  • The extended period of gene flow, lasting about 7,000 years, matches archaeological evidence of overlap between the two hominin groups in Eurasia.
    — Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 12 Dec. 2024
  • For example, obviously contemporary Spaniards would be more subject to gene flow with other Europeans >1600 than their New World cousins.
    — Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 10 June 2013

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gene flow.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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