Year: 2022

HUMAN GENOME is 50% jumping genes. "Retrotransposons (jumping genes) are traveling bits of DNA that replicate by copying and pasting themselves at new locations in the genome. Having duplicated themselves and accumulated over evolutionary history, transposable elements now make up about half of the human genome."" " http://lnkd.in/uw5mTk View in LinkedIn

VECTORS can propagate jumping genes. "The lateral transfer of genetic information across species is common in bacteria, but rare among vertebrates—or so scientists believed. Now, researchers have demonstrated that a particular DNA sequence has likely jumped several times between the genomes of reptiles, marsupials, and mammals." The vector may be a tick that allows promiscuous genes to cross species barriers. " " http://lnkd.in/YRfXK8 View in LinkedIn

PLANTS AND ANIMALS ARE HYBRIDS, and have been so for millennia. "When two completely different organisms merge to form something new, this is called symbiogenesis. For many years, this was considered a heretical idea in biology, until (it was) discovered that mitochondria in animals and chloroplasts in plants were both originally symbiotic bacteria that had been incorporated into the larger organisms as organelles."" " http://suite101.com/article/horizontal-gene-transfer-and-symbiogenesis-a165326 View in LinkedIn

LIFE AS A GENETIC MOSAIC not a tree. "The discovery that a large cluster of genes appears to have jumped directly from one species of fungus to another significantly strengthens the argument that a different metaphor (from the tree of life) such as a mosaic, may be more appropriate. Because most people didn't believe that such large gene clusters could be transferred horizontally, they haven't looked for them and they haven't been found."" " http://lnkd.in/kPywUH View in LinkedIn

LATERAL GENE TRANSFER generated evolutionarily important fungal antibiotic defense chemicals across 100 species. "Horizpntal transfer of gene clusters may have been a big player not only in the evolution of bacteria but also in more complex organisms. Our discovery that one of the largest gene clusters responsible for making such a poison moved intact between species suggests that horizontal transfers of wholesale pathways may have contributed significantly to the generation of diversity."" " http://lnkd.in/kPywUH View in LinkedIn

HUMAN JUMPING GENES (or transposons or "junk DNA") make up a whopping 50% of the human genome and a blistering 90% of maize genomes. Some are silenced and some are pathogenic, but the genetic diversity created is an evolutionary driver. At least in some species, the jumping gene vectors may be parasites and viruses. " " http://lnkd.in/GEpmJN View in LinkedIn

CREATION OF NEW GENES invigorates genetic diversity and massively accelerates evolutionary capacity. The mechanisms of nature are super-creative, shuffling the deck of cards constantly. Read this superb review of our current understanding of gene creation and rearrangement. " " http://lnkd.in/_9cauu. View in LinkedIn

FOREIGN SPECIES ORIGIN OF HUMAN JUMPING GENES: transposons may be silenced (non-coding) by epigenetic mechanisms, which may have led to the idea that they are "junk DNA", but this is a misguided idea. "The distribution of (jumping genes) suggests that they might have been generated in a common ancestor of vertebrates and might then have survived in most vertebrates in the genome of a common ancestor about 540 million years ago or even more...."" " http://lnkd.in/BMXaAshttp://lnkd.in/CCzK4Q View in LinkedIn

JUMPING GENES occupy about half of the human genome, compared to the tiny region of genes coding proteins. "The completion of the first human genome sequence revealed that nearly half of our genome is derived from (jumping genes). This is likely to be an underestimate, as many ancient (jumping genes) in the human genome have probably diverged beyond recognition. The scale of the contribution of (jumping genes) to the human genome is all the more remarkable when one considers that protein-coding regions account for just 1.5% of the human genome."" " http://lnkd.in/FekDZi View in LinkedIn

THE GENETIC EQUIVALENT OF DARK MATTER? Only 3% of human DNA encodes the physical body (proteins). The remaining 97% of the 3 million base pair genome contains over a million genetic structures, called transposons or jumping genes or formerly "junk DNA". Because they do not make protein we have not called them genes, but clearly they have an enormous evolutionary advantage to have survived as foreign genetic elements. We exhibit extreme hubris to call these elements "Junk". View in LinkedIn