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CANDIDATE GENES EMERGE. “In the largest linkage scan thus far performed for human familial longevity, we confirm that the APOE locus is a longevity gene and that additional longevity loci may be identified at 14q11.2, 17q12-q22, and 19p13.3-p13.11. As the latter linkage results are not explained by common variants, we suggest that rare variants play an important role in human familial longevity.” (APOE is a class of fat metabolizing pathway proteins linked to Alzheimer’s). http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acel.12039/full View in LinkedIn

LARGE AGING LINKAGE STUDY. “Clear evidence exists for heritability of human longevity, and much interest is focused on identifying genes associated with longer lives. To identify such longevity alleles, we performed the largest genome-wide linkage scan thus far reported. Linkage analyses included 2118 nonagenarian Caucasian sibling pairs that have been enrolled in 15 study centers of 11 European countries as part of the Genetics of Healthy Aging (GEHA) project.” https://lnkd.in/dT7y7Ze View in LinkedIn

FLORAL TUBE. "The majority of cases reported for fusion of floral whorls comes from studies of petals and carpels, which are often associated with reproductive success. A possible reproductive advantage of having a floral tube is the restriction of the access to the floral reward for nectar robbers. in addition, the accumulation of nectar in the bottom of the tube may reduce nectar evaporation and dilution by rain." https://lnkd.in/dAr4v3z View in LinkedIn

DEATHLY SILENCE. "Despite the fundamental nature and importance of both the process of dying and of death itself, the concepts have received almost no attention in the basic biological sciences—textbooks seldom contain any reference to death or dying." https://lnkd.in/dq_xyw3 View in LinkedIn

FUSION AND POLLINATION. "By creating a floral tube that restricts access to a reward, fusion also provides a means of directing specialized and efficient pollination, thereby potentially increasing individual fitness. The fusion of various floral organ whorls enables coordinated development among the fused parts, providing mechanisms for genetic isolation and differential selection via highly specialized coordination of pollen and stigma placement in the elaboration of pollination syndromes." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

DEATH from a biological perspective is intriguing. It is the flip side of immortality. Trees kill off their autumn leaves rather than repair them. Tissues constantly sculpt themselves in development by programmed cell suicide. Numerous body cells like blood and skin cells have a brief life and are quickly replaced. Some creatures live for very long periods, and others are born and die within days. For what purpose? View in LinkedIn

STRUCTURE AND DIVERSITY. "Floral fusion provides enormous potential for the diversification of the flower. Fusion within (connation) or between (adnation) organ whorls provides the flower with a diversity of architectures that can be explored for adaptive fit to a variety of specialized pollination associations and to structural stability under diverse environmental conditions." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

FLORAL FUSION LINKED TO INNOVATION. "The fusion (or lack of separation) of floral organs appears multiple times across the angiosperm tree of life and during different developmental phases of floral organogenesis, and is consistently linked with key innovations in floral shape, size and pollination interactions." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

OPPOSITE OF FUSION. "Fusion as a process may more accurately be defined as a lack of organ separation, and thus understanding the diversity of mechanisms that underlie boundary formation followed by primordia growth and organogenesis could be essential to investigating the mechanisms of organ fusion." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

FUSION OF PLANT ORGANS. "It is not clear if the shift in fusion among organs reflects the novel acquisition of a process (‘fusion’) in a different spatial and temporal context, or if different mechanisms altogether are involved when considering the fusion of different organs during different developmental stages." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn