Sex cells in parasites are doing their own thing
Researchers at the University of Bristol have discovered how microbes responsible for human African sleeping sickness produce sex cells.
Researchers at the University of Bristol have discovered how microbes responsible for human African sleeping sickness produce sex cells.
Cell & Microbiology
May 11, 2021
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9
In most living animals, egg cells are vastly larger than sperm cells. In humans, for example, a single egg is 10 million times the volume of a sperm cell.
Evolution
Apr 16, 2021
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51
Short pieces of DNA—jumping genes—can bounce from one place to another in our genomes. When too many DNA fragments move around, cancer, infertility, and other problems can arise. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor ...
Cell & Microbiology
Apr 8, 2021
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38
Not all species need sperm to fertilize an egg for sexual reproduction. Some species need sperm in order to induce completion of egg nucleus development, but then never use the sperm's DNA. I describe how this self-sexual ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 19, 2021
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7
Two commercially available 3-D-printable resins, which are marketed as being biocompatible for use in dental applications, readily leach compounds into their surroundings. These compounds can induce severe toxicity in the ...
Materials Science
Jan 28, 2021
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17
In a new study published in the journal Nature, researchers in Japan report that activating just eight genes for producing gene-controlling proteins is enough to convert mouse stem cells directly into oocyte-like cells that ...
Biotechnology
Dec 16, 2020
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82
The marimo is the aggregative form of the freshwater alga Aegagropila linnaei. In Japan, Lake Akan in Hokkaido is the best known habitat of the marimo. It is so emblematic of the lake and surrounding region that it has been ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 3, 2020
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A protein called CatSper1 may act as a molecular 'barcode' that helps determine which sperm cells will make it to an egg and which are eliminated along the way.
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 1, 2020
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7
In science, as in life, timing can be everything.
Evolution
Jun 3, 2020
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110
Why is sex so popular? The question of why so many organisms reproduce sexually has mystified evolutionary biologists since before Darwin, who wrote, "The whole subject is as yet hidden in darkness." In a recent article in ...
Evolution
May 21, 2020
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6