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THREAT ASSESSMENT. "Multicellular organisms have evolved highly sophisticated mechanisms to detect the presence of pathogens (or injurious agents) and activate the proper defense processes. Not all foreign microorganisms that multicellular organisms come in contact with are necessarily harmful; thus a complex mechanism of recognition of microbes as well as of their “dangerousness” had to be developed during evolution." https://lnkd.in/eNNPn5D View in LinkedIn

IMMUNE DEFENSE. "A major role of the immune system is to maintain homeostatic tissue function. For example, sterile tissue damage that occurs after trauma needs to be detected and repaired. Pathogens that can invade and cause harm to tissues should be eliminated while our commensal microbiome must be tolerated, as it fulfills functions that are required for host survival." https://lnkd.in/eSuQQy4 View in LinkedIn

KNOWING SELF from non-self, and good microbes from bad microbes is a critical event for living cells. Given that non-self entities are continually evolving and changing, this resents an immensely complicated problem for creatures. This is at the heart of the immune response, a critical defense. View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE for the next two weekends deals with the topic of inflammation. Inflammation is a key body defense mechanism and trigger of immune responses. Out-of-control inflammation is increasingly considered to be one of the most important causes for a wide range of pathologies, with a tremendously wide number of molecular triggers. View in LinkedIn

TEs AND FLY MUTATIONS. "In fruit flies (D. melanogaster), only 12% of genomic DNA consists of transposable elements, yet more than 50% of de novo mutations arise from these transposable elements." https://lnkd.in/eqiWug7 View in LinkedIn

TE PARADOX. "Retrotransposable element insertions into the human genome are 20 times more numerous, per unit of DNA, when compared to retrotransposable element insertions into the fruit fly genome...Despite this high rate of TE integration in humans, we have very low rates of TE activity." https://lnkd.in/eqiWug7 View in LinkedIn

DUAL PURPOSE. "In addition to their role in evolution and disease, Alus have clearly been genetically “repurposed” to play many vital roles in gene development, RNA editing, gene regulation, and microRNA regulation. As a race, humans owe a debt of gratitude to this 300 bp piece of DNA that has copied itself over a million times in our genomes. Without it, we would look much more like our mammalian primate and non-primate relatives." https://lnkd.in/eqiWug7 View in LinkedIn

"THE INFLAMMASOME resides within the cytoplasm, therefore we can reasonably assume that it is perfectly equipped to sense intracellular pathogens with cytoplasmic location, but it is also clear that it needs a system of communication (extracellular sensor, intracellular messengers) that convey alarm signals delivered by extracellular PAMPs/MAMPs or DAMPs." https://lnkd.in/eNNPn5D View in LinkedIn

MOST DAMAGING. "Alus are the most successful “copiers”, and also have been linked to the highest number of diseases caused by insertional mutations of specific genes." https://lnkd.in/eqiWug7 View in LinkedIn

"INFLAMMATION is based on the efficient cooperation between signals, sensors, and effector systems." https://lnkd.in/eNNPn5D View in LinkedIn