Slashdot Mirror
Study: An Evolutionary "Arms Race" Shaped the Human Genome
An anonymous reader writes "An evolutionary race between rival elements within the genomes of primates drove the evolution of complex regulatory networks that orchestrate the activity of genes in every cell of our bodies, reveals new research. The race was between mobile DNA sequences known as 'retrotransposons' (jumping genes) and the genes that have evolved to control them. Scientists at the University of California Santa Cruz, identified genes in humans that make repressor proteins to shut down specific jumping genes. "We have basically the same 20,000 protein-coding genes as a frog, yet our genome is much more complicated, with more layers of gene regulation. This study helps explain how that came about," said Sofie Salama, a research associate at the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute who led the study."
Per topic, when pushing rapidly into a new niche, doing the new X a little better than everyone else expanding there makes you the top dog. Once a new option becomes available, it seems natural that evolutionary pressure would push towards exemplifying that niche in a short timespan. That's the whole idea behind punctuated equilibrium as a theory.
That's not to discredit the amazing work these scientists have done to deduce the mechanics of how that might have happened to early humans.
...all she was doing was imparting some of her reprocessor genes to him, thus causing blocking of the proper jumping genes, to turn him human?
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
The title doesn't cover the interesting part of this research. The "Arms Race" it talks about isn't an arms race with genes from other groups of people. It's basically a competition within the genome itself. These retrotransposons are genes that would basically make copies of themselves all around our genomes (likely to our detriment) if there wasn't another set of genes that suppressed that activity. To use a metaphor I've seen elsewhere, the regulator genes are basically like cops that beat the street looking for criminals in the genome. The retrotransposons then evolve in response to that with ways to mask their presence from the regulator genes. This arms race happens without much in the way of any benefit for the meat body host.
Regulation of retrotransposons is relavent to retrovirus research. Also, retrotransposons are known to be disregulated in a number of neurological disorders.
Some research is dedicated to incrimental advancements in translational applications, while other efforts are directed at a more complete understanding of the whole system. Sometimes, basic research with no obvious application ends up revolutionizing how we understand disease. A couple examples include: What makes jellyfish glow? Why does feeding worms RNA silence genes? Persuit of these questions (fluorescent proteins and RNA interference) have transformed the entire field of molecular and cellular biology, which has identified drug targets and lead to new therapies.
I know that since this is Slashdot, evolution = good, arms race = bad, so I don't know how to process the headline.
Dark Reflection
absolutely -- everything is in the race. It's like suggesting more complex beings (e.g. humans) are "more evolved", when in fact they (we) were pushed out of the simpler niches by "better evolved" organisms. There's virus that uses 5 of the 6 available reading frames along a stretch of its genome... THAT is good coding (humans use 1, very rarely 2, and often none (non-protein coding)).
to err is human, to forgive is divine, to forget is... umm...