Year: 2022

COLD COMFORT. "Several parties have attempted calculations of the likelihood of viruses evolving from "inanimate code" by random mutation. In general, the time estimated for such an event was several times the lifespan of the universe. Yet most studies shared significant flaws...in the calculations." (Page 50). https://lnkd.in/etkXtU6 View in LinkedIn

GIANT POSSIBILITIES. "As everyone knows, a random nucleotide strand as long as an average gene has an absurdly high number of possible sequences. If an average gene is 1,000 nucleotides, the number of possible sequences it can have is 4^1000, or about 10^600. The chance of finding any gene currently expressed anywhere in biology in that sequence space, in even 10^50 trials, is less than 10^-500." https://lnkd.in/dH9XaVn View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE deals with plant photo-reception and the all-important control of flowering, which is critical for the successful reproduction of the species. Light plays an enormously important role in the clocks of most species, and conveniently varies in duration according to the season. However, even the periodicity of the sun is more complicated than that, affected by the atmosphere, clouds, and geography; and creatures have found ways to work around these variables. https://lnkd.in/dE5CVvG View in LinkedIn

DOWNSTREAM EFFECTS. "The multiple effects of light on the timing mechanism are important determinants of photoperiodic responses as they serve to set the phase of the photoperiodic-response rhythm. Yet they must be distinguished from separate effects of light mediating the floral response downstream of the clock." https://lnkd.in/d_f7kfY View in LinkedIn

FLORAL RESPONSES DOWNSTREAM OF THE CLOCK. "Two types of photoreceptors have a role in the latter: (i) phytochromes, which have maximum sensitivity in the red and far-red parts of the spectrum; and (ii) cryptochromes, the blue light photoreceptors." https://lnkd.in/d_f7kfY View in LinkedIn

MUTANT DISCLOSURES. "There are five members of the phytochrome gene family in Arabidopsis and equivalent gene families in other species. Phytochromes are chromoproteins that contain identical tetrapyrrole chromophores. Mutants or transgenic plants in which chromophore biosynthesis is impaired will be incapacitated with regard to all of the functional phytochromes." https://lnkd.in/d_f7kfY View in LinkedIn

SIGNAL DISRUPTION. "Mutants or transgenic plants in which chromophore biosynthesis is impaired will be incapacitated with regard to all of the functional phytochromes. Such plants show altered daylength responses, usually flowering earlier than wild type." https://lnkd.in/d_f7kfY View in LinkedIn

PHYTOCHROMES. "Different phytochromes have different roles in controlling plant development and this is the case for the photoperiodic-perception process." https://lnkd.in/d_f7kfY View in LinkedIn

CLOCK GENE. "One of the genes whose expression is under control of the circadian clock is CO, which is a key regulator of the photoperiodic pathway. The rhythmic expression of CO cycles such that low levels of transcripts are observed during the day. Expression begins to increase approximately 8 h after dawn, followed by a broad peak between 12 and 16 h after dawn." https://lnkd.in/d_f7kfY View in LinkedIn

CIRCADIAN GENE "CO directly activates transcription of the floral integrators FT and SOC1, but only when expression of its mRNA coincides with the light period under long day conditions. This is because the CO protein is subject to post-transcriptional regulation and is ubiquitinated and degraded by the 26S proteasome in the dark." https://lnkd.in/d_f7kfY View in LinkedIn