Month: September 2022

GENETIC TINKERING. "François Jacob famously stated that nature is but a “tinkerer” of already available protein hardware, advocating the importance of duplications in gene emergence." https://lnkd.in/e3rTkFh View in LinkedIn

EARLY FUNCTIONS OF NON-CODING DNA. "Clearly, protein-coding genes must have arisen de novo from non-coding sequence in very early life evolution." https://lnkd.in/dPqZs3m View in LinkedIn

JACOB OVERTHROWN. "Gene duplication, fusion and fission of genes, exon shuffling and other ‘bricolage’ events were considered to be the only viable sources of novel protein-coding genes—all variations on a genetic theme. Proteins were thought to be made from a small and finite ‘universe of exons’. Francois Jacob articulated this best when he said ‘To create is to recombine’. However, in recent years, there has been a growing appreciation for the role of de novo gene origination." https://lnkd.in/dPqZs3m View in LinkedIn

DIFFERENTIAL EMERGENCE. "The emerging picture across different species is that de novo genes emerge at high rates." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952515000347 View in LinkedIn

"NEW GENES provide important genetic novelties responsible for biological diversity in organisms, and are often the genetic basis for lineage- or species-specific components in important biological processes and structures." https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-015-0772-4 View in LinkedIn

MECHANISM OF NEW GENE GENERATION in humans. Exon shuffling: 19%; gene duplication; retroposition: 1%; recruitment of a mobile element: 4%; horizontal gene transfer; gene fusion; de novo transformation of a non-coding region into a coding region. https://lnkd.in/dyvJr2S View in LinkedIn

DRIVERS OF NEW GENES. "Processes like exaptation of transposable elements, gene duplication, and horizontal gene transfer emerge as potential forces underlying the generation of orphan genes." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952515000347 View in LinkedIn

FEATURES OF NEW GENES: Short open reading frames (ORFs); Fewer exons; Microsatellites; Usage of preferred codons; Low expression level; Higher tissue specificity; Chromosomal location. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168952515000347 View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE contemplates the mysteries of double fertilization in plants. There is only one viable explanation for the sometimes perverse complications of nature: nature is an accumulation of bolt-ons, band-aids, work-arounds, exaptations, and vestigial elements, put in a spin dryer and flung against the wall. Not the least of these examples is how major groups of plants reproduce. View in LinkedIn

PERFECT ADAPTATION is a myth. In fact, it is rather a surprise that anything works. If there was a real tally of the enormous amount of failed experiments that ended in the evolutionary rubbish bin, or never made it past first draft, it surely would outweigh all beings that survived. Because nothing is designed from scratch, but has to accommodate the quirks of early drafts, the outcomes are invariably, if not inevitably, a patchwork of pieces held together with bandaids. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13640-evolution-myths-evolution-produces-perfectly-adapted-creatures/ View in LinkedIn