Category: Uncategorized

POETIC ETYMOLOGY. "The word ‘‘apoptosis’’ comes from the Ancient Greek...meaning the ‘‘falling off of petals from a flower’’ or ‘‘of leaves from a tree in autumn’’. https://lnkd.in/e2jYAUk View in LinkedIn

LARGE TOPIC. "Apoptosis has become a major research area in the bio-medical sciences. As there are more than 13,000 papers published annually on the topic, it is impossible to keep track on all developments in the area. Over the last 10 years, the number of publications related to apoptosis has increased exponentially to now over 2% of the papers published in the life sciences." https://lnkd.in/e2jYAUk View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE this next two weekends deals with the remarkable topic of cell suicide (apoptosis). Either in context of massive tissue resculpting during development where entire tissue structures are re-engineered, or during injury where damaged cells are jettisoned, this is a ubiquitous, conserved, and irreversible event. Control of the cellular suicide machinery is critical for organisms. View in LinkedIn

CULTURAL REPLICONS. Memes are “cultural replicators, the cultural equivalent of a gene, the cultural equivalent of DNA...the internet is a first-class ecology for memes to spread." (Richard Dawkins). https://lnkd.in/e9Xs9Hj View in LinkedIn

MASSIVE EVENT. "Horizontal gene transfer in eukaryotic evolution would be even more important if we consider animal and plant hybridization a massive horizontal gene transfer event, as well as the proposed role of hybridization in evolution." Reference to the bacterial origin of our mitochondria. https://lnkd.in/eVQ_4UY View in LinkedIn

PLANT KINGDOM. "It has been shown that the acquisition of foreign genes from bacteria and other eukaryotes is also important in fungi and plant evolution." https://lnkd.in/eVQ_4UY View in LinkedIn

HIGHER ANIMALS. "It is widely accepted that eukaryotic nuclear genomes contain several genes of microbial origin that have been transferred from mitochondrial and plastid ancestors via ancient endosymbiotic events. But a recent study also highlights the role of horizontal gene transfer modulating the evolution of other eukaryotic genomes in a different way: by acquisition of novel genes from living endosymbionts." https://lnkd.in/eVQ_4UY View in LinkedIn

EIGHTY PERCENT IMPORTED. "Today it is estimated that between 1.6 and 32.6 per cent of the genes of each microbial genome have been acquired by horizontal gene transfer. Moreover, a recent study...shows that this increases dramatically to 81 ± 15 per cent if the cumulative impact of horizontal gene transfer towards lineages is considered, which reinforces the importance of this mechanism in microbial evolution." https://lnkd.in/eVQ_4UY View in LinkedIn

THE COMPLEXITY HYPOTHESIS explains differences in horizontal gene transfer susceptibility. "This hypothesis proposes that the so-called informational genes (involved in DNA replication, transcription and translation, and whose products participate in multiple molecular interactions) are less prone to horizontal gene transfer than operational genes (involved in cell maintenance and whose products have few interactions with other molecules)." https://lnkd.in/eVQ_4UY View in LinkedIn

DRIVING FORCE. "Today it seems evident...that horizontal (or lateral) gene transfer...is an important force driving the evolution of Bacteria and Archaea, as well as that of unicellular eukaryotes." https://lnkd.in/eVQ_4UY View in LinkedIn