Year: 2022

KNOCK-OUTS. “Later, parallel mutations in the adenine DNA glycosylase gene (mutY) arose in independent lineages; these mutations approximately halved the mutation rate, apparently by knocking out a mechanism by which misincorporations of oxidized nucleotides during DNA replication (caused by the original mutT defect) were misrepaired. The resulting reduction in genetic load was estimated to be ~0.5%.” https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg3564 View in LinkedIn

QUANTUM INFORMATION. “With his aphorism ‘it from bit’, Wheeler argued that anything physical, any it, ultimately derives its very existence entirely from discrete detector-elicited information-theoretic answers to yes or no quantum binary choices: bits. In this spirit, many theorists now give ontological primacy to information.” (Julian Barbour). https://lnkd.in/gVen_Bc8 View in LinkedIn

GIRONA CATHEDRAL. “The cathedral's interior includes the widest Gothic nave in the world, with a width of 23 metres (75 ft), and the second-widest of any church after that of St. Peter's Basilica (for comparison, the width of the nave of Reims Cathedral is 14.65 m, Saint-Étienne de Sens, 15.25 m and 12 m, in Notre Dame de Paris).” https://lnkd.in/gvmpNwbx View in LinkedIn

GENETIC ARCHITECTURE. “As fitness landscapes are complex and may have multiple peaks, some mutational paths may lead to 'dead ends' with no, or at least fewer, opportunities to further improve. In other cases, certain mutations may open up new opportunities for evolution that could not be accessed if other routes were taken.” https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg3564 View in LinkedIn

TANGLED BANK. “In The Origin of Species, Darwin memorably envisioned a “tangled bank” in which organisms were “dependent upon each other in so complex a manner” as an outcome of natural selection. To this point, we have generally ignored ecological interactions beyond 'scramble' competition for limiting resources.” https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg3564 View in LinkedIn

NUTRIENT STARVATION. “Complex ecologies also evolve in closed cultures in which the nutrients are exhausted and are not renewed. In these cultures, the viable cell population declines over time, as starvation takes its toll. However, not all genotypes die at the same rate, and the survivors are enriched for growth advantage in stationary phase (GASP) mutants, that exploit by-products of dead and dying cells.” https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg3564 View in LinkedIn

CO-EVOLVING CELLS. “The complex interplay between ecological interactions and genetic contingency determined the evolutionary outcomes in these co-evolving populations.” https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg3564 View in LinkedIn

APPLICATIONS TO ONCOLOGY. “Elucidating genome dynamics has similarly proved to be crucial for understanding many observations regarding the progression of neoplastic tumours.” https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg3564 View in LinkedIn

TREATMENT STRATEGIES. “These types of studies will undoubtedly lead to important advances in identifying specific genes and mutations that contribute to disease and resistance to treatment.” https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg3564 View in LinkedIn

WIDER APPLICABILITY. “Future studies might also reveal the extent to which ecological interactions and differences in evolvability in these genetically diverse cell populations affect disease outcomes.” https://www.nature.com/articles/nrg3564 View in LinkedIn