Category: Uncategorized

QUASI-ALIVE. "The remarkable finding that prions can mutate and adapt to their environment imbues them with a further attribute of living things, without however elevating them to the status of being ‘alive’." https://lnkd.in/dVZWBhV View in LinkedIn

EPIGENETIC SIGNALS. "As new details of the epigenetic regulation of gene expression during bud dormancy processes emerge, its mechanistic similarities with the well-known regulation of Arabidopsis FLC gene are becoming increasingly evident." https://lnkd.in/duD22Cw View in LinkedIn

INHERITED CHANGE. "This process follows the principles of Darwinian evolution, the same principles that shape the genetic material of viruses, bacteria and other living things. In DNA, mutations manifest as changes in the bases that line the famous double helix. In prions, mutations are essentially different styles of molecular origami. In both cases, they are selectively inherited and they can lead to adaptations such as drug resistance. In prions, it happens in the absence of any genetic material." https://lnkd.in/dVZWBhV View in LinkedIn

TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS. "The similarities of bud dormancy in perennials with the vernalization treatment for flowering in Arabidopsis and cereals reside in their common requirement of a time period of quantitative and cumulative chilling, and the participation of certain MADS-box domain transcription factors with key regulatory tasks." https://lnkd.in/duD22Cw View in LinkedIn

PRION STRAINS. "Li has found that variation can creep into populations of initially identical prions. Their amino acid sequence stays the same but their already abnormal structures become increasingly twisted. These “mutant” forms have varying degrees of success in different environments. Some do well in brain tissue; others thrive in other types of cell. In each case, natural selection culls the least successful ones. The survivors pass on their structure to the “next generation”, by altering the folds of normal prion proteins." https://lnkd.in/dVZWBhV View in LinkedIn

EVOLUTION WITHOUT DNA. "Prions – the infectious proteins behind mad cow disease, CJD and kuru – are capable of Darwinian evolution, all without a single strand of DNA or its sister molecule RNA." https://lnkd.in/dVZWBhV View in LinkedIn

ADAPTING PRIONS. "A new study, carried out by the Scripps Research Institute, started with the notion that perhaps prions could become resistant to drugs through selective adaptation (i.e. evolution)." https://lnkd.in/eR_TbTu View in LinkedIn

EVOLVING COMPUTER CODE. "Some have argued that neither the geological timescales nor the large populations that are germane to biological evolution will be available to evolving computer malware. However, generation times for computer viruses are many orders of magnitude shorter than even bacterial generation times, and furthermore selective pressures are expected to be much stronger and mutation rates higher, speeding up evolution." https://lnkd.in/dGC6A7c View in LinkedIn

EVOLVING PRIONS. "Like the role of proteins in epigenetics (adaptation or change in gene expression not caused by DNA), the more molecular biologists dig into proteins the more versatile and important they become. New research shows that includes the ability of prions to evolve." https://lnkd.in/eR_TbTu View in LinkedIn

CONTRARIAN. "Prions are mostly protein. Although protein is a fundamental component of living cell material, prions are not alive. The behave something like viruses, without DNA or RNA yet able to reproduce by forcing living cells to do the reproduction for them." https://lnkd.in/eR_TbTu View in LinkedIn