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Archive for the ‘genetics’ category: Page 406

Nov 19, 2018

Coming to terms with complexity: Eco-evolutionary dynamics under more than one selection pressure

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, genetics

We found that the evolution of anti-predatory defense in the prey species stabilized predator population size but that this was delayed in the presence of the abiotic stressor. This corresponded with a lack or delay in the evolution of resistance to the abiotic stressor. Therefore, the abiotic stressor had a big effect on the eco-evolutionary dynamics, weakening the evo-to-eco link. One might expect that this is caused by competition between (asexual) bacterial lineages possessing different adaptations, decreasing the rate and directionality of evolution under multiple selection pressures. Instead, the genomic investigation showed that different targets (genes or duplicated sites) were repeatedly mutated in the individual and combined treatments. The population genetics thus revealed complex mechanistic underpinnings for a seemingly sensible difference in dynamics. Perhaps a specific type of bacterial cell clumping or another adaptation is favored in the dual-stressor environment because of conferring a degree of resistance to both types of stressors? This could then direct the mutational path away from the optimal adaptations to the individual stressors.


It took us five years to disentangle the complex interplay between ecology and evolution in an experimental system consisting of bacteria, ciliates and antibiotics.

Go to the profile of Johannes Cairns

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Nov 19, 2018

Brit scientists develop genetically modified virus that kills cancer cells

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A GENETICALLY modified virus that kills cancer cells and destroys their hiding places has been developed by British scientists.

It targets both cancer cells and healthy cells that are tricked into protecting the cancer from the immune system.

The role of fibroblasts is to hold different types of organs together but they can get hijacked by cancer cells to become cancer-associated fibroblasts or CAFs.

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Nov 19, 2018

Small Farmers in Mexico Keep Corn’s Genetic Diversity Alive

Posted by in categories: evolution, genetics

“Campesinos” are driving the evolution of maize in North America.

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Nov 18, 2018

Genetics Start-Up Wants to Sequence People’s Genomes for Free

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, privacy

The new service lets consumers contribute to medical research, but still poses privacy concerns.

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Nov 18, 2018

The Evolutionary Importance of Neutral vs. Adaptive Genes

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

For 50 years, evolutionary theory has emphasized the importance of neutral mutations over adaptive ones in DNA. Real genomic data challenge that assumption.

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Nov 18, 2018

Ban on ‘gene drives’ is back on the UN’s agenda — worrying scientists

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, government

Government representatives from nearly 170 countries will this month consider whether to temporarily ban the release of organisms carrying gene drives — a controversial technology that can quickly propagate a chosen gene throughout a population. The technique has the potential to eradicate disease, control pests and alter entire ecosystems, but with unpredictable consequences — leading some groups to call for a global moratorium on its field applications.


Research is moving fast on the divisive genetic technology, which could help to eradicate diseases but also risks altering ecosystems in unpredictable ways.

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Nov 17, 2018

Bizarre Microbes Represent a Major New Branch on the Evolutionary Family Tree

Posted by in categories: biological, genetics

Canadian scientists have identified microscopic creatures that are so unlike anything seen before, they had to create an entirely new branch on the evolutionary tree of life to slot them in.

A new paper published this week in Nature offers the first genetic analysis of hemimastigotes—a rare and poorly understood group of single-celled microorganisms. Biologists have known about these wee beasties for well over a century, but only now can hemimastigotes be officially slotted into the evolutionary tree of life, a process more formally known as phylogeny. And by doing so, scientists have stumbled upon a completely new branch on the tree of life—one dating back billions of years.

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Nov 17, 2018

Fisetin—a new senolytic

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, genetics, life extension

More information on the search for natural senolytics (that clear the senescent cells and potentially make us younger)- on ficetin, found in abundance for example in strawberries, a newly published study and discussion in the blog of Josh Mitteldorf. But we still would have to consume around 20 kg strawberries for two consecutive days to reach the dose used in the happy longer living mice!


Senolytic drugs have been the most promising near-term anti-aging therapy since the ground-breaking paper by van Deursen of Mayo Clinic published in 2011 . The body accumulates senescent cells as we age, damaged cells that send out signal molecules that in turn modify our biochemistry in a toxic, pro-inflammatory direction. Though the number of such cells is small, the damage they do is great. Van Deursen showed that just getting rid of these cells could increase lifespan of mice by ~25%. But he did it with a trick, using genetically engineered mice in which the senescent cells had a built-in self-destruct switch.

After that, the race was on to find chemical agents that would do the same thing without the genetically engineered self-destruct. They must selectively kill senescent cells, while leaving all other cells unharmed. It’s a tall order, because even a little residual toxicity to normal cells can be quite damaging. Before last week, the two best candidates were FOXO4-DRI and a combination of quercetin with dasatinib .

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Nov 17, 2018

Home DNA tests mean sperm, egg donors can no longer hide their identities

Posted by in category: genetics

Thirteen years later, home DNA test kits have opened the floodgates for people who were born from sperm or egg donations to reveal the identities of their donors.

Donors used to be guaranteed anonymity, but things have changed, according to genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, founder of DNADetectives.

“It would be naive to think that a person could donate sperm or eggs and stay anonymous,” said Moore. “It isn’t going to happen.”

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Nov 16, 2018

By solving a mystery of gene repair, scientists uncover an exception to biology’s rules

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, education, genetics

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About 15 years ago, UNC Lineberger’s Dale Ramsden, Ph.D., was looking through a textbook with one of his students when they stumbled upon a scientific mystery.

A small line in the book indicated that a protein that helps major breaks in our did so by adding DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, as expected. However, there were hints that it could also add RNA, or ribonucleic acid, at least in a test tube. It seemed unlikely that this would occur during repair of DNA in living , since RNA is normally used only as a messenger to carry information from the genetic code to make proteins.

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