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SELECTIVE PRESSURES. "Variation in TF binding might underlie concerted changes in a large number of supporting regulatory mechanisms that determine chromatin state and accessibility. These inferences, based on functional genomic variation data, are consistent with independently observed evidence of strong selective pressures on TF binding motifs, second only to the conservation of protein-coding genes." (TF = transcription factor). https://lnkd.in/dFv6Tsi View in LinkedIn

VARIED EXPRESSION. "Posttranscriptional mechanisms notwithstanding, the available body of work suggests that variation in steady-state gene expression levels can disproportionately be explained by variation in TF binding." (TF = transcription factor). https://lnkd.in/dFv6Tsi View in LinkedIn

TRANS-VARIANTS. "Heritability studies suggest that more than half of the genetically explained variance in gene expression is due to trans-acting variants." https://lnkd.in/dFv6Tsi View in LinkedIn

INTRONS AND MICRO-RNA. "Introns as catalysts for de novo miRNA family origination in mammals. A detailed analysis revealed that 36%–65% of miRNA genes are overlapping with introns of protein-coding genes in the different species, although annotated introns only constitute ∼22%–45% of the entire genome. Introns may represent a natural place for the miRNA de novo formation." https://lnkd.in/dDg9xVY View in LinkedIn

PATHOGEN VIRILITY DRIVER. "The intensity of local competition for susceptible hosts depends, however, on the precise genetic and epidemiological structure of the pathogen population." https://lnkd.in/dvcWSUt View in LinkedIn

THIRD GENOMIC EVOLUTION DRIVERS "are other non-coding regions of the genome that make up the so-called cis-regulatory network, which controls the production of mRNA and thereby of proteins according to factors such as cell type or environmental conditions." https://lnkd.in/eNHFjJ8 View in LinkedIn

DEFINITION. “Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype." (AKA: Differential survival = death: some survive (briefly enough to breed) and some die early; reproduction of the survivors; due to a bell curve of differential talents). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection View in LinkedIn

NATURAL SELECTION is at the heart of everything that matters, or so it seems. Researchers have devoted an incredible effort to describe it, and it has even been proposed as being anticipatory for conditions it has never seen. But what is this mystical force? Is it not just the population effects of competition between species, between individuals, between sexes, between instars, and the searing effects of death? Death is at its heart, and without death, natural selection does not thrive. View in LinkedIn

DISCRIMINATION LACKING. "One ultimate goal of genomics is to read the code—to be able to predict variation in gene expression levels based on the nucleotide sequence—and this goal remains challenging. The main difficulty is that many changes in TF binding do not seem to result in measurable changes in gene expression levels, and we do not yet know how to distinguish between binding events that affect gene expression and those that do not." (TF = transcription factor). https://lnkd.in/dFv6Tsi View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this contemplation of the immensely successful strategy of viruses, the remains of these creatures which litter our genomes and drive evolutionary novelty. Viruses are everywhere. In every habitat, no matter how hostile. In every creature. And in virtually every genome in some form or another. It is preposterous that we have been so slow to recognize that they are very much alive. They simply are an extreme case of outsourcing. View in LinkedIn