Month: September 2022

INFO GAP. "There is relatively little information available on the molecular basis of sex determination and it is even difficult to estimate the numbers of genes involved, particularly as the genes which result in organ suppression are unlikely to be the primary sex determining genes." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

SEX GENE CANDIDATES. "One of the first molecular targets has been the MADS box genes which control the identities of the floral organs in hermaphroditic plant species." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

MUTANT INSIGHTS. "Organ suppression might arise as a consequences of the differential expression patterns of the B and C function genes. Mutants of the B function genes in hermaphroditic plants are effectively female with homeotic transformations of petals to sepals in the second whorl and stamens to carpels in the third whorl." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

ORGAN IDENTITY GENES. "The involvement of organ identity genes in controlling the sex related differences in organ development in unisexual species is more likely in those species which do not initiate the inappropriate organs and do not go through a hermaphrodite phase." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

SEX CHANGE. "In Zea mays, a monoecious species, the Tasselseed (ts) loci cause the reversal of sex in tassel florets, so that pistils develop and stamen development is suppressed." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

EXAPTED GENES. "Hermaphroditic plants may well carry genes with sequences similar to sex determining genes but they are likely to have different functions in these species, the sex determining genes (as distinct from the downstream genes which result in the organ differences) arising by gene duplication and functional divergence." https://lnkd.in/gb3zS32 View in LinkedIn

The Guardian view on pesticides: give bees a chance View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE concerns our monumental ignorance about our universe and our planet, as exemplified by our almost non-existent documentation of the most prevalent creature on earth, the mighty virus. Humans have completely missed the boat on this tiny creature, and continue to do so. Many scientists exclude it from the tree of life and deny that it is living, but it probably had and still has more impact on life on this planet than any other single entity. Pedants and ostriches beware: professorships will be castigated when the full extent of our misreadings become widely known. https://lnkd.in/gkwpqWi View in LinkedIn

THE FLAMMARION ENGRAVING of 1888 shows a pilgrim peering under the mantle of the heavens to learn of the hidden workings of the world. Little has changed since this date. Despite all our self-congratulatory efforts, even our descriptive knowledge to simple catalogue and enumerate our world is only less than 1% of the total biological diversity, when viruses are figured into the equation. A Martian arriving at planet earth might indeed be surprised by this state of affairs. https://lnkd.in/gmMe6gB View in LinkedIn

DARK AGES. “Our best guess is that there are 10 million living species, more or less, excluding the single-celled bacteria and Archaea. Of these, fewer than two million are known to science. And of documented species, most are known by little more than a few diagnostic features and a name.” Characteristically, and sadly, this perspective omits to even mention of the most numerous and diverse group of creatures on Planet Earth, namely, viruses. https://lnkd.in/giV3WBx View in LinkedIn