tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7447544468792389936.post4391514769371405689..comments2024-02-26T21:18:23.165-08:00Comments on CHIMERAS: Four decades of computational genomics.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09922888671399516573noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7447544468792389936.post-32653543530025802702012-04-20T06:41:29.901-07:002012-04-20T06:41:29.901-07:00I see... I'll check that link later when I com...I see... I'll check that link later when I come back from work, in the meantime I just wanted to say that I think you're going to like my next post on Monday! :-)<br /><br />Also, I think that the changes are more frequent than originally thought, it's just that most are silent or not picked up by selection, only random drift...<br /><br />TGIF! :-)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09922888671399516573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7447544468792389936.post-54408209886965960902012-04-20T06:37:10.733-07:002012-04-20T06:37:10.733-07:00I'm a bit biased. When I first read about mob...I'm a bit biased. When I first read about mobile elements and other alternatives to small mutations, I was almost ecstatic. Small infrequent DNA changes have never seemed enough to explain evolution, and yet that was the level of discussion and even "knowledge" for so long, even though no one had a clue re genome-scale variation. So I'm biased towards alternative sources of variation, novelty. A paper by Shapiro really got me thinking about transposons and their role in genome evolution. He argues that mobile elements "increase the efficiency of generating functional genomic novelties".<br /><br />Mobile DNA and evolution in the 21st century<br />Shapiro Mobile DNA 2010, 1:4 http://www.mobilednajournal.com/content/1/1/4<br /><br />Maybe it's obvious now why I like your blog so much -- the first line about 10% of our DNA being viral in origin was a great hook!<br /><br />cheersHollishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10788942181934895493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7447544468792389936.post-70056166666302062072012-04-19T20:31:26.171-07:002012-04-19T20:31:26.171-07:00Thank you, Hollis, I always appreciate your questi...Thank you, Hollis, I always appreciate your questions!<br /><br />You're right, there are other events that bring diversity, I think what I should've said there is that most of the diversity inherited through "vertical transfer" (ie from one generation to the next) comes from replication errors. <br /><br />There are also, as you correctly mention, "horizontal transfers" and those include symbiosis (which, as you know, brought, mitochondria to our cells), viral DNA acquisition and/or transfers, etc. <br /><br />I'm not sure if transposons are considered horizontal transfers, because usually they "jump" within a cell... and I don't think those are inheritable, but I'll double check.<br /><br />Thanks for being such an attentive reader! :-)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09922888671399516573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7447544468792389936.post-55077855242448580192012-04-19T18:35:28.050-07:002012-04-19T18:35:28.050-07:00When I read "diversity is created mostly by c...When I read "diversity is created mostly by copy errors during replication", I wondered whether we can be sure. Is there clear evidence that most diversity comes from replication errors, is this a widely-accepted view? What about persistant viral DNA, transposon activity, horizontal gene transfer, hybridization ... ?<br /><br />interesting post ... as always. Thanks again for the steady stream od informative posts.Hollishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10788942181934895493noreply@blogger.com