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THREE BIOMEDICAL REVOLUTIONS in 50 years: 1. Molecular and cellular biology revolution; 2. Genomics revolution; 3. Both these past revolutions are paving the way for the current convergence revolution. https://lnkd.in/dEAvzMk View in LinkedIn

EJACULATE TRIGGER. “In many species with internal fertilization, molecules transferred in the male ejaculate trigger and interact with physiological changes in females. It is controversial to what extent these interactions between the sexes act synergistically to mediate the female switch to a reproductive state or instead reflect sexual antagonism evolved as a by product of sexual selection on males.” https://lnkd.in/e4e-PaN View in LinkedIn

REPRODUCTIVE PROTEINS. “It is widely established that proteins involved in reproduction diverge between species more quickly than other proteins. For male sperm proteins, rapid divergence is believed to be caused by postcopulatory sexual selection and/or sexual conflict.” https://lnkd.in/eAhHMbJ View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE this weekend contemplates the humble fruit fly, and how coitus radically alters the female in numerous ways. Upon mating, an impressive host of behavioral, physiologic, biochemical and genetic changes ensue. One conclusion is that antagonism dominates male-female interactions. Given that fruit flies and humans share about 60% of genes, it is food for thought, at the very least. https://lnkd.in/euG2VC2 View in LinkedIn

ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESES. “We tested alternative predictions based on the hypotheses that the male–female interactions these genes mediate are mostly synergistic, regulating the switch of female physiology to reproduction, or mostly antagonistic, driven by sexual conflict. The broad pattern of evolutionary change in the expression of genes involved in this interaction, evident in both males and females from populations maintained under enforced monogamy, supports a prevailing role for sexual conflict.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeb.12763/full View in LinkedIn

MASS PRODUCTION. “One of the major goals in synthetic biology is to find a way to industrialise our processes so that we can mass produce these biological factories much in the same way that industries such as car manufacturers mass produce vehicles in a factory line." http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_31-1-2013-12-18-1 View in LinkedIn

METHODS. “To address this question, we eliminated sexual selection by enforcing monogamy in populations of Drosophila melanogaster for 65 generations and then measured the expression of male seminal fluid protein genes and genes involved in the female response to mating. In the absence of sperm competition, male and female reproductive interests are perfectly aligned and any antagonism should be reduced by natural selection.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeb.12763/full View in LinkedIn

CONTROL OF LIFE. "Molecular computing has the potential to transform many areas in life sciences, by virtue of being able to control living matter with unprecedented sophistication and precision." http://www.dna.caltech.edu/Papers/Denmark_Workshop_2013.pdf View in LinkedIn

TESTABLE HYPOTHESIS. “One way to test the extent to which male and female contributions are operating cooperatively or antagonistically is to study how they evolve if sexual selection is experimentally eliminated. Removing female choice and competition for mates eliminates sexual conflict – any amount of harm to females would become detrimental to the reproductive success of both sexes.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeb.12763/full View in LinkedIn

MOLECULAR ARMS RACE. “Molecular evolutionary patterns support this role for sexual conflict, as the family of SFP genes (comprising at least 140 members) are rapidly evolving at the sequence level. The female side of this putative arms race, involving primarily proteases expressed in the reproductive tract, also shows evidence of rapid evolution and a signature of strong selection.” (SFPs = male seminal fluid proteins). http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jeb.12763/full View in LinkedIn