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DNA PARASITIC jumping genes are highly varied, complex and widespread. This is a terrific review of current knowledge." " http://lnkd.in/XQ6J9J View in LinkedIn

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PLANTS (GMO) are simply old hat, and evolution has been tinkering with this for aeons. "Much, if not most, changes that occur to plant chromosomes during evolution is generated by dynamic rearrangement of plant DNA orchestrated by mobile parasitic DNA. Typical plant genomes can contain about 90 percent of their DNA as the remnants of the past movement and multiplication of mobile DNA, reflecting the huge amount of mobile DNA multiplication that occurs during plant evolution."" " http://academicsreview.org/reviewed-content/genetic-roulette/section-2/2-7-mobile-dna/ View in LinkedIn

PARADIGM SHIFT: "A paradigm shift because, until now, horizontal transfer has been seen as very rare in animal species. It's actually a lot more common than we think....the hAT transposon invasion occurred about 30 million years ago and spread across at least two continents. The hAT transposon does not occur in humans, but some 45% of our genome is of transposon origin."It's like a pandemic, and one that can infect species that weren't genetically or geographically close...."" " http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14992-space-invader-dna-infiltrated-mammalian-genomes.html#.Ug4Iovoayc0p View in LinkedIn

EPIGENETICS, the modifications of DNA by methods like methylation, controls the expression of jumping genes, often acting to silence them. " " http://lnkd.in/FekDZi View in LinkedIn

SOME WASPS EXPLOIT VIRUSES, (which are another type of DNA parasite that needs a host's molecular machinery to reproduce), to subdue the wasp's hosts. A type of reverse parasitism which shows how enormously dynamic the genome is. " " http://lnkd.in/Pkgqxa View in LinkedIn

PARASITISM CAN BE BILATERAL, as transposable elements (TE), while probably originally DNA parasites, may account for the infinite capacity of the immune system. Nature is opportunistic both ways. "TEs may have been co-opted by the vertebrate immune system as a means of producing antibody diversity: The V(D)J recombination system operates by a mechanism similar to that of some TEs."" " http://lnkd.in/6FT7kj View in LinkedIn

SILO-BUSTER FOR BIOLOGY. The nexus of cross-discipline talk. The sweet spot for surprising innovation. "Systems biology and synthetic biology are both based on linking several discrete disciplines such as biology, computing, physics, and chemistry. This corresponds to what the European commission calls “the New Renaissance” where a holistic scientific approach is adopted that is built on a crossing over of disciplines that once were considered separate and discrete."" " http://biotek2012.forskningsradet.no/file.axd?file=2009%2F11%2F200908140-10.2+NT-fakultetet+p%C3%A5+NTNU.pd View in LinkedIn

THE SOUP OF GENETIC ELEMENTS: Jumping genes, coding DNA (genes), and viruses are genetic elements that are shuffled like cards. "Irrespective of the strict definition of selfish DNA, there is no sharp, definitive boundary between the concepts of selfish DNA and genetically functional DNA. Often it also is difficult to establish whether a unit of noncoding DNA is functionally important or not, and if important, in what way. What is more, it is not always easy to distinguish between ...selfish DNA and ...viruses."" " http://lnkd.in/2yUP2c View in LinkedIn

A MILESTONE HUMANS WILL NEVER FORGET. This is worth repeating. Biology's Man on the Moon moment. "In May 2010, Craig Venter's group announced they had been able to assemble a complete genome of millions of base pairs, insert it into a cell, and cause that cell to start replicating." I feel" "privileged to be alive at this historic juncture. For some reason, this is not a discussion point in every household today, and for many has flown under the radar. Biology has come of age in a New Renaissance. . " " http://lnkd.in/TC5QS9 View in LinkedIn

JUMPING GENES AS DNA PARASITES? Transposable elements (TE ) "are found in many major branches of life. They may have originated in the last universal common ancestor, or arisen independently multiple times, or perhaps arisen once and then spread to other kingdoms by horizontal gene transfer. While some TEs may confer benefits on their hosts, most are regarded as selfish DNA parasites. In this way, they are similar to viruses... leading to speculation that they share a common ancestor."" " http://lnkd.in/6FT7kj View in LinkedIn