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Category: evolution – Page 85

The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is an aquatic salamander renowned for its ability to regenerate its spinal cord, heart and limbs. These amphibians also readily make new neurons throughout their lives. In 1964, researchers observed that adult axolotls could regenerate parts of their brains, even if a large section was completely removed. But one study found that axolotl brain regeneration has a limited ability to rebuild original tissue structure.

So how perfectly can ’s regenerate their brains after injury?

As a researcher studying regeneration at the cellular level, I and my colleagues in the Treutlein Lab at ETH Zurich and the Tanaka Lab at the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna wondered whether axolotls are able to regenerate all the different in their brain, including the connections linking one brain region to another. In our recently published study, we created an atlas of the cells that make up a part of the axolotl brain, shedding light on both the way it regenerates and brain evolution across species.

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Circa 2016 This gives more exacting detail of the Tasmanian devils resistance to cancer.

A recently emerged infectious cancer has caused the near extinction of the Tasmanian devil, but some populations persist. Here, Epstein et al. provide evidence for possible resistance via rapid evolution in two genomic regions that contain cancer-related immune response genes.

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Evolution has long been thought to be random, however, a recent study suggests differently.

Evolution has long been thought of as a relatively random process, with species’ features being formed by random mutations and environmental factors and thus largely unpredictable.

But an international team of scientists headed by researchers from Yale University and Columbia University discovered that a specific plant lineage independently developed three similar leaf types repeatedly in mountainous places scattered across the Neotropics.

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O.o!!!!!

Changing the number of chromosomes an animal has can take millions of generations to happen in nature through the course of evolution – and now, scientists have been able to make these same changes in lab mice in a relative blink of an eye.

The new technique using stem cells and gene editing is a major accomplishment, and one that the team is hoping will reveal more about how the rearrangement of chromosomes can influence the way that animals evolve over time.

It’s in chromosomes – those strings of protein and DNA inside cells – that we find our genes, inherited from our parents and blended together to make us who we are.

Continue reading “Scientists Just Genetically Edited a Million Years of Evolution Into Mouse DNA” | >

Analysis of the genome and proteome shows that eukaryotic evolution gave rise to the regulatory function of chromatin.

Two meters of DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

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This finding “proved” the significance of chromosomal rearrangement, a crucial evolutionary indicator of the emergence of a new species.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) claim to have found a novel technique for programmable chromosome fusion successfully producing mice with genetic changes “that occur on a million-year evolutionary scale” in the laboratory.

The findings could shed light on how chromosome rearrangements—the tidy packages of organized genes provided in equal numbers by each parent, which align and trade or blend traits to produce offspring—influence evolution, reported Phys.org on Thursday.

Evolutionary chromosomal changes may take a million years in nature, but researchers are now reporting a novel technique enabling programmable chromosome fusion that has successfully produced mice with genetic changes that occur on a million-year evolutionary scale in the laboratory. The result may provide critical insights into how rearrangements of chromosomes—the tidy packages of organized genes, provided in equal number from each parent, which align and trade or blend traits to produce offspring—influence evolution.

Continue reading “Researchers engineer first sustainable chromosome changes in mice” | >

Microsoft has shut down more than 1,400 malicious email accounts used by cybercriminals to collect stolen customer passwords via ransomware in the past year. The technology company has presented the second edition of ‘Cyber Signals’, a report that it produces periodically on cyber threats and that shows trends in security and cybercrime. In this issue, it offers insight into the evolution of extortion in cybercrime.

In this analysis, the company highlights that the specialization and consolidation of cybercrime have driven ransomware as a service (RaaS), which has become a dominant business model. RaaS programs, such as Conti or REvil, offer cybercriminals the opportunity to buy access to both ransomware payloads, leaked data and payment infrastructure.

These are used by different malicious actors, among which are the so-called access ‘brokers’, who sell the possibility of accessing the networks. In this way, those cybercriminals who do not have the necessary knowledge to execute the attacks can pay for these techniques and use them.

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Earth’s interior is a far from quiet place. Deep below our surface activities, the planet rumbles with activity, from plate tectonics to convection currents that circulate through the hot magmatic fluids far underneath the crust.

Now scientists studying satellite data of Earth have identified something inside Earth we’ve never seen before: a new type of magnetic wave that sweeps around the surface of our planet’s core, every seven years.

This discovery could offer insight into how Earth’s magnetic field is generated, and provide clues of our planet’s thermal history and evolution – that is, the gradual cooling of the planetary interior.

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