Month: September 2022

VIRAL IMPACT. "Although we only know a little about the detailed mechanisms, it seems likely that viruses shape the standing stock and fluxes of genetically encoded information. This should influence the ecology as well as the evolution of species." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1462-2920.2003.00539.x/full View in LinkedIn

RANDOM VARIATION. "In the theory of genetic mosaicism, dsDNA phages have access to the global phage DNA pool by lateral gene transfer. This access is not uniform, e.g. because of host range barriers, thus representing ‘…a sort of random walk through phylogenetic space’." https://lnkd.in/ehNRjAC View in LinkedIn

GLOBAL GENE POOL."Owing to lateral gene transfer, prokaryotes might also be seen as a ‘global superorganism’. On account of a viral linkage to the tree of life, it is maybe more appropriate to regard all microorganisms including viruses as a ‘superorganism’ or part of a global DNA pool, which can in principle be accessed by all species." http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1462-2920.2003.00539.x/full View in LinkedIn

LAND PLANTS. "In complex multicellular eukaryotes such as animals and plants, horizontal gene transfer is commonly considered rare with very limited evolutionary significance. Here we show that horizontal gene transfer is a dynamic process occurring frequently in the early evolution of land plants." https://lnkd.in/eXQNMSa View in LinkedIn

PLANTS AND HGT. "The increasing structural complexity of land plants has been accompanied by diversified metabolic pathways and their chemical output. Like other complex multicellular eukaryotes, plants are able to form distinctive structures and coordinate development throughout their lifecycle. Our data clearly show that HGT contributed greatly to the metabolism, development and regulation of land plants." https://lnkd.in/eXQNMSa View in LinkedIn

GERMLINE INHERITANCE. "Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) differ from typical retroviruses in being inherited through the host germline and therefore are a unique combination of pathogen and selfish genetic element. Some ERV lineages proliferate by infecting germline cells, as do typical retroviruses, whereas others lack the env gene required for virions to enter cells and thus behave like retrotransposons." https://lnkd.in/eCFFh8D View in LinkedIn

ENDOGENOUS RETROVIRUSES. "We also show that ERV abundance follows the Pareto principle or 20/80 rule, with ∼20% of lineages containing 80% of the loci. This rule is observed in many biological systems, including infectious disease epidemics, where commonly ∼20% of the infected individuals are responsible for 80% of onward infection." http://www.pnas.org/content/109/19/7385 View in LinkedIn

VIRAL FOSSILS. "Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) proliferate by the repeated integration of new viral sequences into their host's germline, integrations which can become fixed in the host population and have led to ERV sequences (loci) comprising 8–10% of the human and mouse genomes." http://www.pnas.org/content/109/19/7385 View in LinkedIn

VERTICAL INHERITANCE. "Horizontal gene transfer is increasingly described between bacteria and animals. Such transfers that are vertically inherited have the potential to influence the evolution of animals." https://lnkd.in/eBQXvvd View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues from last weekend on the topic of programmed cell death, or apoptosis. The mitochondria, derived from ancient bacteria, play a key role in the regulation of cellular suicide. The molecular machinery involved in apoptosis is an exemplar of the remarkably intricate assembly of one of the most potent and potentially destructive series of reactions in living cells. This angel of death is also exquisitely beautiful. View in LinkedIn