Year: 2022

EXAPTATION. "Some pseudogenes have been co-opted for organism-level function." http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004351 View in LinkedIn

MOBILE GENETIC ELEMENTS. "Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are abundant in mammalian genomes and contain sequences modulating transcription. The impact of ERV propagation on the evolution of gene regulation remains poorly understood. We found that ERVs have shaped the evolution of a transcriptional network underlying the interferon (IFN) response, a major branch of innate immunity, and that lineage-specific ERVs have dispersed numerous IFN-inducible enhancers independently in diverse mammalian genomes." https://lnkd.in/dn8M8m8 View in LinkedIn

VIRAL CONTRIBUTION. "Parasitic genetic elements can provide benefits to the host by protecting the host from superinfection, but also through exaptation of genetic material of the selfish elements for host functions." https://lnkd.in/dwWBEqU View in LinkedIn

EMERGENCE OF NEW GENES. "The emerging picture across different species is that de novo genes emerge at high rates." https://lnkd.in/d4n2asc 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://lnkd.in/dsVek5A 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

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues from last weekend that touched on the concept of the individual and mosaicism. Division of labour is an old concept, but its threads can be seen at all levels in living things, from societies to genomes. Indeed, overlaid by the concept of outsourcing, vast biological efficiencies and expanded functionality can be achieved by the combination. View in LinkedIn

LIGHT ORGAN TRIGGER. "The newborn of the squid Euprymna scolopes lacks a light organ, which is developed in cooperation between the squid and the luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fisheri) absorbed by its ventral epithelium. Without the bacteria, the organ does not develop."​ https://lnkd.in/ddVyNR5 View in LinkedIn

IMMUNE AND DIGESTIVE TRIGGERS. "​In “germ-free” asymbiotic mice, the development of the immune system and the digestive system cannot be completed without gut bacteria. Rather, these mice have insufficient intestinal capillaries, poorly developed or absent gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and a diminished T-cell repertoire that gives them an immunodeficiency syndrome."​ View in LinkedIn