The human genome is littered with selfish genetic elements, which do not seem to benefit their hosts, but instead seek only to propagate themselves.
Evolution
Nov 11, 2021
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126
So-called 'selfish genes' may make females more promiscuous and also lower male fertility.
Plants & Animals
Feb 1, 2013
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0
Why are plants often sterile when their parents are from different species? How do species remain separate entities in nature?
Biotechnology
Oct 11, 2016
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0
A UCLA study has found that a common strain of Caenorhabditis elegans—a type of roundworm frequently used in laboratory research on neural development—has a pair of genes that encode both a poison and its antidote. The ...
Biotechnology
May 11, 2017
0
141
Consider this. It may be possible to eliminate some of the world's deadliest diseases, save 2.7 million human lives per year, and save millions more from getting sick…all that is needed is to cause the extinction of a couple ...
Ecology
Jul 5, 2016
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28
Nature is full of animals helping each other out. A classic example is meerkat cooperation. When the group is foraging for food, one individual will head to a vantage point and keep watch for predators. This selfless individual ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 12, 2019
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15
Meiotic drivers are a type of selfish gene. Present in the genomes of nearly all species, including humans, they unfairly transfer their genetic material to more than half of their offspring, sometimes leading to infertility, ...
Evolution
Oct 20, 2022
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33
New findings from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research uncover critical insights about how a dangerous selfish gene—considered to be a parasitic portion of DNA—functions and survives. Understanding this dynamic ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 8, 2022
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127
A selfish streak in genes known to drive species apart might occasionally bring them closer together, says a new study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Rochester.
Plants & Animals
Dec 20, 2018
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21
The human race is in so much trouble that it needs to colonise another planet within 100 years or face extinction. So says the physicist Stephen Hawking in an upcoming BBC documentary, Stephen Hawking: Expedition New Earth. ...
Biotechnology
May 25, 2017
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