Category: Uncategorized

RESET BUTTON. "Epigenetic information undergoes extensive reprogramming in the germline between generations. During normal germline transmission, the epigenetic state of the genome is known to undergo reprogramming both in the gametes and the early embryo." https://lnkd.in/gt5vs8F View in LinkedIn

SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY. "Since the genetic information contained within germ cells is passed from generation to generation, the germ line is often referred to as immortal. Therefore, it is possible that germ cells possess unique strategies to protect and transmit the genetic information contained within them indefinitely." https://lnkd.in/dsBeTUt View in LinkedIn

CELLULAR GATEWAY TO THE FUTURE. "Germline stem cells (GSCs) sustain gamete production, both oogenesis (egg production) and spermatogenesis (sperm production), in many organisms." https://lnkd.in/dsBeTUt View in LinkedIn

MAZE TESTS. “The ability to traverse a maze is a standard test of intelligence and behavior in animals: maze learning has been used for many years in psychology to test the intellectual abilities of small mammals and other animals.” https://ukacc.group.shef.ac.uk/proceedings/control2008/papers/p246.pdf View in LinkedIn

GENE FUNNEL BETWEEN GENERATIONS. "Germ cells are highly specialized cells that form gametes, and they are the only cells within an organism that contribute genes to offspring." https://lnkd.in/dsBeTUt View in LinkedIn

GATHERING DATA. “A slime mold makes decisions about its propagation direction based on information fusion from thousands of spatially extended protoplasmic loci, similarly to a neuron collecting information from its dendritic tree. The analogy is distant yet inspiring.” http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/ARTL_a_00153 View in LinkedIn

LEADERSHIP. “In the early stages of Dictyostelium aggregation, the waves of cAMP that give rise to the distinctive spiral and circular wave patterns are controlled by small numbers of ‘pacemaker cells’ that send out coordinated pulses of cAMP. These cells play a key role in organising collective behaviour in Dictyostelium. Growing evidence suggests that these leaders arise by chance, with no cells intrinsically destined to be leaders.” https://academic.oup.com/femsre/article/40/6/798/2400841 View in LinkedIn

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEEDBACK. “In Physarum, positive feedback generated through increased oscillation rate and tube size results in the engulfment of profitable food sources, while negative feedback likely generated by crowding at the food source causes engulfment to stop once the entire surface is covered.” https://academic.oup.com/femsre/article/40/6/798/2400841 View in LinkedIn

COMMUNICATION TUBE ALIGNMENT. “Attractants such as food increase the local oscillation frequency and initiate contraction waves propagating outwards. Tubes within the network that lie parallel to the direction of propagation are reinforced, as cytoplasm moves towards them, while perpendicular tubes decay. The reinforced tubes become thicker, the tubes that link the network via the shortest path accommodate the highest flow per unit time and the network length becomes optimised by positive feedback.” https://academic.oup.com/femsre/article/40/6/798/2400841 View in LinkedIn

ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING TUBES. “The slime mold is capable of sensing tactile, chemical, and optical stimuli and converting them to characteristic patterns of its electrical potential oscillations. The electrical responses to stimuli may propagate along protoplasmic tubes for distances exceeding tens of centimeters, as impulses in neural pathways do.” https://lnkd.in/gC3MaMJ View in LinkedIn