Species evolve ways to back up life's machinery
Scientists have learned a lot about evolution by studying fossils, by observing nature and, more recently, by unraveling the genetic code stored in DNA.
Scientists have learned a lot about evolution by studying fossils, by observing nature and, more recently, by unraveling the genetic code stored in DNA.
Evolution
Feb 26, 2019
4
138
Over 1 billion years ago, a relationship began between the ancestor of all living plants and a type of bacterium that paved the way for the evolution of life as we know it. The single-celled algal ancestor engulfed, but crucially, ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 22, 2018
0
17
Evolution by Darwinian natural selection is immensely powerful—both in nature and within laboratories. Using 'laboratory evolution', we can take an enzyme which combines random mutations and functional selection, and improve ...
Biochemistry
Sep 12, 2018
12
280
Mitochondria are essential organelles of cells with a nucleus – known as eukaryotic cells. These are the cells which make up fungi, plants, and animals including humans. Mitochondria work like tiny power plants, processing ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 21, 2018
0
1
An international team has developed a model that simulates protein evolution. Starting from stiff, unfunctional proteins, the computer model shows how evolving protein components can work together to give rise to dynamic ...
Biochemistry
May 29, 2018
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166
Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the University College London have developed a new theory of molecular evolution, offering insights into how genes function, how the rates of evolutionary ...
Biochemistry
Oct 23, 2017
21
484
Titin is one of the proteins that make up the muscles of all vertebrates; it is an elastic protein that acts as a spring by refolding and returning to its original state. "Protein evolution has been studied from many points ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 4, 2017
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3
Understanding evolution is one of the cornerstones of biology—evolution is, in fact, the sole explanation for life's diversity on Earth. Based on the evolution of proteins, researchers may explain the emergence of new species ...
Evolution
May 9, 2017
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20
Research led by the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the University of Washington has shown that the biological diversity needed for evolution can be generated by changes in protein modifications. The findings, ...
Biotechnology
Oct 13, 2016
0
397
All living things require proteins, members of a vast family of molecules that nature "makes to order" according to the blueprints in DNA.
Biochemistry
Dec 7, 2015
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1127