Category: Uncategorized

REMARKABLE FACT. "We can illustrate the conserved features of sexual reproduction by comparing the sexual cycles for two of our favorite systems: ourselves (Homo sapiens) and the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Despite having diverged ~ one billion years ago, the core features of sexual reproduction are conserved." http://www.mycologia.org/content/105/1/1.full View in LinkedIn

CONSERVED YET PLASTIC. "Given the ubiquity of sex, it is remarkable both how conserved the core features are and yet how plastic other aspects appear to be, including how sex is determined and how sexual reproduction is accomplished." http://www.mycologia.org/content/105/1/1.full View in LinkedIn

REVEALING HIDDEN GENETIC VARIATION. "Sex—the mixing of genomes via meiosis and fusion of gametes—is nearly universal to eukaryotic life and encompasses a diverse array of systems and mechanisms. One major role of sex is to bring together alleles carried by different individuals, revealing beneficial genetic variance that is otherwise hidden." https://lnkd.in/eK75j6J View in LinkedIn

EUK LIFE CYCLE #3. "Observed in all plants and some algae, species with alternation of generations have both haploid and diploid multicellular organisms as part of their life cycle.” https://lnkd.in/dvZ2tF3 View in LinkedIn

EUK LIFE CYCLE #2. "Most fungi and algae employ a haploid-dominant life cycle type in which the "body" of the organism is haploid; specialized haploid cells from two individuals join to form a diploid zygote. https://lnkd.in/dvZ2tF3 View in LinkedIn

PHENOTYPIC OPTIONS. "The mere fact that organisms are subject to natural selection, so that we only expect to observe organisms with maximal (or nearly maximal) relative fitness, implies that we’ll see trade-offs." https://lnkd.in/dGaAzSA View in LinkedIn

CONSTRAINTS ON PHENOTYPE. "The common theme of all of the above is constraints on phenotypes. Allocation, antagonistic pleiotropy, mutational decay, and the laws of physics are all reasons why organisms can’t build (or can’t maintain, over evolutionary time) certain phenotypes. Trade-offs reflect constraints on the range of phenotypic options that are open to organisms.” https://lnkd.in/dGaAzSA View in LinkedIn

REASONS FOR TRADE-OFFS. "Allocation is a big one: a unit of energy, materials, or time that an organism uses to do one thing (say, build a defensive structure) cannot be used to do something else (say, reproduce). Antagonistic pleiotropy is another big one: a mutation that improves one biological function often degrades another (although this is presumably not an ultimate explanation for trade offs, since one can ask why we expect antagonistic pleiotropy). Mutational decay is a third: a mutation that degrades an unused function (think cave fish eyes) will be selectively neutral." https://lnkd.in/dGaAzSA View in LinkedIn

DEVELOPMENTAL TEST. "When sections are cut from a Drosophila imaginal disc, adjoining cells divide to produce a normal-sized trait, even when the injured disc is placed outside of the environment of the developing larva." http://www.pnas.org/content/95/7/3685.full View in LinkedIn

"THE PRINCIPLE OF ALLOCATION is a basic concept in ecology. The principle of allocation also underlies some aspects of the concept of tradeoffs and typically is considered in terms of energy. As a result, organisms tend to be unable to be simultaneously exceptionally durable, such as in terms of maintaining homeostasis, and at the same time exceptionally fecund, at least in terms of a limited resource budget." https://lnkd.in/dSYMHu9 View in LinkedIn