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GENE TRANSFER AGENTS. "Perhaps the most striking showcase for dedicated vehicles of HGT are the gene transfer agents (GTAs), defective prophages that form virus particles in which they package apparently random fragments of the bacterial chromosome rather than the phage genome." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

BURIED PATTERNS IN LARGE DATA SETS. "The program was unveiled in April, when it used readouts of a double-pendulum to infer Newton’s second law of motion and the law of conservation of momentum. It could be an invaluable tool for revealing other, more complicated laws that have eluded humans." (Eurequa). https://lnkd.in/dEC3j_P View in LinkedIn

CARGO GENES. "Both types of elements are transferred by the conjugation molecular machinery (type IV secretion systems) and typically carry ‘cargo’ genes unrelated to the transposon life cycle. Thus, these selfish elements are at the same time vehicles for HGT that mediate microbial adaptation by introducing new genes into the recipient genomes." (HGT = horizontal gene transfer). https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this two weekend sampling of horizontal gene flow. Evidence has accumulated that this gene mixing mechanism has played a vastly important role in the evolution of all life forms on earth, even those whose gene mixing strategies are largely vertical. Microorganisms, primarily bacteria and viruses, and mobile genetic elements, have played the driving role in horizontal and promiscuous gene sharing, driving evolution in previously unexpected ways. View in LinkedIn

PLASMIDS. "Conjugative plasmids encode proteins required for autonomous replication, whereas integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs, or conjugative transposons) typically replicate while integrated into the host chromosome but have the ability to excise and form plasmid-like molecules." https://lnkd.in/dSemZpD View in LinkedIn

STEP FORWARD. “This Robot Scientist will be capable of initiating >1,000 experiments, and making >200,000 observations a day. Robot Scientists provide a unique test bed for the development of methodologies for the curation and annotation of scientific experiments: because the experiments are conceived and executed automatically by computer, it is possible to completely capture and digitally curate all aspects of the scientific process.” https://lnkd.in/dQyqwwv View in LinkedIn

"GRAFFITI.PC is a conjecture-making computer program whose design was strongly influenced by the design of the conjecture-making program Graffiti. The program Graffiti was created in the mid 1980's by Siemion Fajtlowicz of the University of Houston. As his student in the early 1990's, I contributed to the development of the most recent versions of Graffiti." https://lnkd.in/dEMGmTW View in LinkedIn

RESEARCH OUTPUT. 92 research articles inspired by Graffiti. https://lnkd.in/d_iPp8q View in LinkedIn

BEATING THE NOGGINS. "A conjecture of Graffiti led to a discovery of a stability pattern of classical fullerenes, winning in the process an argument against one of the well-known fullerene experts." https://lnkd.in/dNX9WUn View in LinkedIn

"GRAFFITI is a computer program which makes conjectures in various subfields of mathematics. It was written by Siemion Fajtlowicz at the University of Houston. Research on conjectures produced by Graffiti has led to over 60 publications by other mathematicians." https://lnkd.in/dHW4gXQ) View in LinkedIn