Month: September 2022

GUT MICROBIOME AND DIETARY EXCHANGES. “Also, horizontal gene transfer between dietary bacteria and gut microbes can lead to the acquisition of new dietary capabilities by their hosts without requiring a change in the “species” composition of the gut microbiome.” (Another biggie). https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

JAPANESE SEAWEED DIGESTION. “Humans in Japan possess gut microbiomes that are similar to those found in North Americans, where “similar” means “possessing the same species composition, as measured by rRNA analysis.” However, unlike North American gut microbiomes, Japanese gut microbiomes can digest seaweed because of genes acquired through horizontal gene transfer from a marine microbe ( Zobellia galactanivorans ) that provide porphyranases, agarases and associated proteins useful in the digestion of porphyran from marine red algae.” (Hugely important finding). https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

VERTICAL INHERITANCE. “In classical multi-cellular eukaryotes biology, organisms acquire new hereditary material precisely once, when genetic material is transmitted from parent to progeny during the formation of the zygote. This produces a genetically novel cell that will form the clonal basis for the new Weismannian individual to come.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

MENDELIAN GENE FLOW. “Following the rediscovery of Mendel’s work, the study of these processes came to be known as transmission genetics, thereby linguistically capturing the implicit notion that, barring rare mutation, a new individual acquires new genetic material only through the active transmission of that material across generations (of individuals) via the cellular processes of meiosis, gametogenesis, and fertilization.” https://lnkd.in/ewnQ9Vg View in LinkedIn

CLONAL FISSION. “Prokaryotes, like multi-cellular eukaryotes, exhibit transmission genetics in receiving genes transmitted from a parental cell at the moment of cell division. Because this involves the simple replication of the existing genetic material, from the perspective of multi-cellular eukaryotes biology it would seem that prokaryotes should possess very little genetic variability.” https://standardsingenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40793-016-0180-8 View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE for this and next weekend is a meditation on the human face, and why the Mona Lisa smile has such cultural appeal. Anatomists are a rare and extraordinary group of scientists who ponder this apparently arcane subject and keep coming up with new observations, usually through comparative anatomy. Such is the case with the nuanced expressions of the human face. https://lnkd.in/dD5FBrY View in LinkedIn

FACIAL MUSCLES. “The human face has the greatest mobility and facial display repertoire among all primates. However, the variables that account for this are not clear. Humans and other anthropoids have remarkably similar mimetic musculature. This suggests that differences among the mimetic muscles alone may not account for the increased mobility and facial display repertoire seen in humans.” https://lnkd.in/di-WAXE View in LinkedIn

ORIFICE CONTROL. “The muscles of facial expression are arranged around the orifices of the face (orbita, mouth and nose). Their function is thus to control these orifices as sphincters and dilators.” https://lnkd.in/dG53As2 View in LinkedIn

BY-PRODUCT. “The diversity of facial expressions produced by these muscles is only a side effect of their true function.” https://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/147238 View in LinkedIn

TWENTY ONE. “The muscles associated with the movement of the lips (mouth) are (on each side): four elevators, four depressors and two muscles lateral to the angle. This totals twenty pared and one unpaired muscle.” Good description of the muscular mechanics of facial expressions. https://lnkd.in/dG53As2 View in LinkedIn