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"HIGHLY DESIGNABLE FOLDS provide structural scaffolds for many different biochemical reactions. We show that contemporary proteins are built from a limited number of EFs, making their analysis instrumental for establishing the rules for protein design." (EFs = elementary functions). https://lnkd.in/dwbv2VX View in LinkedIn

"NEW GENES provide important genetic novelties responsible for biological diversity in organisms, and are often the genetic basis for lineage- or species-specific components in important biological processes and structures." https://lnkd.in/dsVek5A View in LinkedIn

FOLDS AND DISTANT FAMILIES. "By analyzing protein sequences we were able to identify EFs shared by seemingly unrelated protein superfamilies and folds and to unravel evolutionary relations between them. Binding and metabolic processing of the metal- and nucleotide-containing cofactors and ligands are among the most abundant ancient EFs that became indispensable in many natural enzymes." (EFs = elementary functions). https://lnkd.in/dwbv2VX View in LinkedIn

EMERGENCE OF NEW GENES. "The emerging picture across different species is that de novo genes emerge at high rates." https://lnkd.in/d4n2asc View in LinkedIn

MANY FROM THE FEW. "The diversity of contemporary enzymes can be described via combinations of a limited number of elementary chemical reactions, many of which are performed by the descendants of primitive prebiotic peptides/proteins." A very familiar theme. https://lnkd.in/dwbv2VX View in LinkedIn

VIRAL CONTRIBUTION. "Parasitic genetic elements can provide benefits to the host by protecting the host from superinfection, but also through exaptation of genetic material of the selfish elements for host functions." https://lnkd.in/dwWBEqU View in LinkedIn

FIRST FUNCTIONS. "We looked back into the very onset of the protein evolution with a goal to find elementary functions (EFs) that came from the prebiotic world and served as building blocks of the first enzymes. We defined the basic structural and functional units of biochemical reactions—elementary functional loops." https://lnkd.in/dwbv2VX View in LinkedIn

MOBILE GENETIC ELEMENTS. "Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are abundant in mammalian genomes and contain sequences modulating transcription. The impact of ERV propagation on the evolution of gene regulation remains poorly understood. We found that ERVs have shaped the evolution of a transcriptional network underlying the interferon (IFN) response, a major branch of innate immunity, and that lineage-specific ERVs have dispersed numerous IFN-inducible enhancers independently in diverse mammalian genomes." https://lnkd.in/dn8M8m8 View in LinkedIn

EXAPTATION. "Some pseudogenes have been co-opted for organism-level function." http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004351 View in LinkedIn

BROKEN GENES. "Other historical markers can be found in our genes. We have a gene to make Vitamin C but, unfortunately for those sailors who died from scurvy, it is broken, so we have to get Vitamin C from our food. Chimpanzees and orangutans have the same broken gene, which can only have been inherited from our common ancestor for whom it was functional, as it still is for many animals." https://lnkd.in/d8JdtZG View in LinkedIn