Category: Uncategorized

CRAYFISH CLONES. "Crayfish create a new species of female ‘superclones’. A genetic glitch allowed one female to begin cloning herself, and because these females are larger and more prolific, they started to take over. A new study argues that these clones constitute a new species—one where every individual is genetically identical." https://lnkd.in/epB74fM View in LinkedIn

OUTLIER CASE. "Some fungi have 13 different sexes and any two can reproduce together. This means that it might be possible for those sexes that don't reproduce often to evolve more slowly." https://lnkd.in/eaQgZwc View in LinkedIn

ONGOING Y CHROMOSOME EVOLUTION. "Will it be replaced by some different gene and chromosome? And if so, will this unleash a new round of hominid speciation? We may have to wait another 4.6 million years to find out." https://lnkd.in/ehjz378 View in LinkedIn

HUMAN CONSEQUENCE? "What does this mean for our own lineage? The primate Y seems to be more stable than the rodent Y. But if it continues to degrade at the same rate, it will disappear in about 4.6 million years." https://lnkd.in/ehjz378 View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS the first weekend on the topic of the impact of viruses on the evolution of life. Still considered by many biologists to be just rough pieces of genetic material not worthy of inclusion in the tree of life, there are some who propose a very central role for viruses in the evolution of life. This seems to be a case of not seeing the wood for the trees, bogged down in details, or our mesmerized fixation on the pointing finger, rather than on what it points at. View in LinkedIn

PERMANENT HITCHHIKERS. “After they have entered a cell, viruses become part of the genetic information of the host cell, and all of its progeny are forever changed.” https://lnkd.in/guhpmyR View in LinkedIn

ANTAGONISTIC EVOLUTION. "Sex-linked genes with sexually antagonistic effects play an important role in theoretical models of plant sex chromosome evolution by causing selection against recombination between loci on newly evolving sex chromosomes." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

"THE TRANSITION TO DIOECY has been associated with the evolution of sex chromosomes in some dioecious plant species, and theory suggests that they can facilitate the evolution of sexual dimorphism." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

RECENT UNISEXUALITY IN PLANTS. "Much of the genetic variation available for the evolution of sexual dimorphism is likely to have been initially shared by the sexes after the establishment of dioecy, and the recent origins of unisexuality in some lineages may mean that there has not been sufficient time for selection to break down intersexual genetic correlations." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn

TRAIT DIVERGENCE. "When dioecy evolves from hermaphroditism and the sexes are initially monomorphic with respect to homologous characters, intersexual genetic correlations should be quite strong and could interfere with female and male trait divergence." https://lnkd.in/ge7JD6J View in LinkedIn