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INHERITANCE. "A fundamental concept in biology is that heritable material, DNA, is passed from parent to offspring, a process called vertical gene transfer. An alternative mechanism of gene acquisition is through horizontal gene transfer (HGT), which involves movement of genetic material between different species." https://lnkd.in/e5G7Nk8 View in LinkedIn

"GENETIC PROMISCUITY is far more prevalent in nature than we realised." https://lnkd.in/eV52WTB View in LinkedIn

PROMISCUOUS DNA. "The mitochondrial genomes of flowering plants experience frequent insertions of foreign sequences, including linear plasmids that also exist in stand-alone forms within mitochondria. An important feature of many plant mitochondrial genomes is their propensity to acquire foreign or “promiscuous DNA, which comes from diverse sources including the nucleus, plastids, bacteria, viruses, and mitochondria from other plant species." https://lnkd.in/edGrATm View in LinkedIn

A MILLION ENHANCERS. "Transcription factors bind DNA regulatory elements called enhancers, which play key roles in the control of cell-type-specific gene expression programs. A typical mammalian cell contains thousands of active enhancers, and it has been estimated that there may be ∼1 million enhancers active in all human cells." https://lnkd.in/evThR6r View in LinkedIn

INTERACTIVE EVOLUTION. "During relatively long stretches of evolutionary time, the genes on the chromosome and the plasmid interacted epistatically, highlighting another way these genetic elements may affect each other’s evolution." https://lnkd.in/exyreqd View in LinkedIn

MASTER GENE REGULATOR. "Use of the term is increasing: Google Scholar identifies 139 publications containing the phrase “master regulator” from 1997 and slightly over 7,000 from 2012." https://lnkd.in/e2pTtBm View in LinkedIn

"EPISTASIS is a phenomenon that consists of the effect of one gene being dependent on the presence of one or more 'modifier genes' (genetic background). Similarly, epistatic mutations have different effects in combination than individually. Epistasis has a large influence on the shape of evolutionary landscapes which leads to profound consequences for evolution and evolvability of traits." https://lnkd.in/eSHwQcF View in LinkedIn

TOP DOG(S). "The term “master regulator” or “master regulatory gene” was first coined by Susumu Ohno over 30 years ago for a “gene that occupies the very top of a regulatory hierarchy,” which, “by its very definition should not be under the regulatory influence of any other gene”. One, or many? https://lnkd.in/e2pTtBm View in LinkedIn

THE GOOD AND THE BAD. "Plasmids can evolve to expand or at least shift their host range, which is undesirable for public health in the case of drug resistance or virulence plasmids." http://people.ibest.uidaho.edu/~etop/vgp/notes/terms/bhr.html View in LinkedIn

NESTED HIERARCHIES. "A living system represents a hierarchy of nested structures and consists, at each level of hierarchy, of individuals, subjects (cells, organisms, groups)." Each level must have distinct but inter-related system master genetic controls. Ultimately, are organisms run by a committee of genes, or a single arbitrator in charge of them all? https://lnkd.in/e-VqAeg View in LinkedIn