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FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues from last weekend on the theme of biological information. Most scientists today see this information as key to all life processes. How did biological information evolve? Did the transition from non-life to life come first? These are some of the interesting problems to figure out. View in LinkedIn

EVOLUTIONARY SUBSTRATE. "Heritable genetic variation for unreduced gamete production has been observed, thereby providing an evolutionary substrate. Unreduced gametes are also frequently involved in interspecific hybridisation events as well as being produced by interspecific hybrids, facilitating allopolyploidisation." https://lnkd.in/eSsUn-Y View in LinkedIn

NUMEROUS PATHS. "Unreduced gametes (gametes with the somatic chromosome number) are known to facilitate polyploid formation. Unreduced gametes result from a plethora of different mechanisms across different taxa, suggesting that the ability to produce unreduced gametes has evolutionary utility." https://lnkd.in/eSsUn-Y View in LinkedIn

REMARKABLE TWIST. "We demonstrate that unreduced gametes combining freely among parents of different ploidy are the core driver of such systems and that the survival of individual gametic combinations drives reproductive isolation." https://lnkd.in/eJvn-m7 View in LinkedIn

HYBRID ADVANTAGES. “This is another way of stating, in informational terms, that analogue-only systems are not as versatile or as robust as analogue systems with digital information control and as such may probably have very limited evolutionary capacity.” https://lnkd.in/ewsT9EQ View in LinkedIn

REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION. "One of the key modes of plant speciation is polyploidy (duplication of all chromosomes), which can lead to sympatric speciation because it is often associated with limited gene flow and reproductive isolation." https://lnkd.in/eJvn-m7 View in LinkedIn

ANALOG-DIGITAL HYBRID. “Taking all of these factors into account, it is clear that analogue-only systems are not capable of adaptation in the same way as living systems are. Modern life is a hybrid: digital memory and digital switches enable control over many (non-interfering) analogue states, and therefore enable adaptability to changing environmental conditions with the same basic toolkit.” https://lnkd.in/ewsT9EQ View in LinkedIn

IMPACT OF STRESS. "Interestingly, environmental stress also often triggers unreduced gamete production. In response to stress, the formation of unreduced gametes may facilitate polyploid speciation and escape from genetic pressure and hostile environments." https://lnkd.in/eWhHmsj View in LinkedIn

ANALOG-DIGITAL HYBRID. “Taking all of these factors into account, it is clear that analogue-only systems are not capable of adaptation in the same way as living systems are. Modern life is a hybrid: digital memory and digital switches enable control over many (non-interfering) analogue states, and therefore enable adaptability to changing environmental conditions with the same basic toolkit.” https://lnkd.in/ewsT9EQ View in LinkedIn

HYBRIDS AS UNUSUAL CASES. "Generally, unreduced gametes are frequently produced by hybrids, facilitating polyploidization. This phenomenon has been observed in a range of animal and plant species." https://lnkd.in/eWhHmsj View in LinkedIn