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NEUROSPORA HARD CALL. “Fully distinguishing between natural and sexual selection is a challenging task involving aspects of molecular function, physiology, behavior, and ecology." https://lnkd.in/eUbE-is View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this first of two weekends on the topic of biological information, which many believe is a defining part of what differentiates life from non-life. Prions are at least one exception, being relatively simple molecules that can evolve and reproduce. My favorite take-away from this section is that life is information that can replicate. This completely reframes the question and perspective, and does broadly include quirks like prions. View in LinkedIn

English rivers polluted by powerful insecticides, first tests reveal https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/13/english-rivers-polluted-by-powerful-insecticides-first-tests-reveal?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other View in LinkedIn

KEY FEATURE. “We postulate that it is the transition to context-dependent causation—mediated by the onset of information control—that is the key defining characteristic of life.” https://lnkd.in/ewsT9EQ View in LinkedIn

NEUROSPORA COMPETITION BETWEEN SEXES. "Given that male-biased genes often evolve rapidly in animals/plants, which are prone to male–male competition, and female-biased genes evolve rapidly in N. crassa, which have a propensity for female–female competition, suggests sexual selection via intrasex competition is a strong candidate to explain differences in the evolution of sex-biased genes in both systems." https://lnkd.in/eUbE-is View in LinkedIn

INFORMATION AS PHENOTYPE. “To be explicit, biological information is distinctive because it possesses a type of causal efficacy —it is the information that determines the current state and hence the dynamics (and therefore also the future state(s)).” https://lnkd.in/ewsT9EQ View in LinkedIn

NEUROSPORA MAJOR ROLE. "The evolutionary differences among sex-biased genes across these disparate taxonomic groups suggest that sexually dichotomous structures could have played a major role in driving gene divergence among organisms throughout evolutionary history, i.e., before, during, and after divergence of these three kingdoms." https://lnkd.in/eUbE-is View in LinkedIn

INTRINSIC INFORMATION. “The central position of information in biology is not itself especially new or radical. What is often sidestepped, however, is the fact that in biological systems information is not merely a way to label states, but a property of the system.” https://lnkd.in/ewsT9EQ View in LinkedIn

NEUROSPORA SURPRISE. "Remarkably, these findings in a hermaphrodite infer that sex is connected to gene evolution in the complete absence of differences in sex-specific genome regions." https://lnkd.in/eUbE-is View in LinkedIn

NEUROSPORA FEMALE ASCENDANCY. "The results revealed that in this organism, female-biased genes exhibit rapid protein-level evolution, lowered optimal codon usage, elevated levels of positive selection, and stronger signals of selective sweeps compared with male-biased genes." https://lnkd.in/eUbE-is View in LinkedIn