11 replies to this topic

[Lazarus Long]

This could be very important to would be transhumanists as it can suggest methods for speeding up the changes tot he human genome we want and also to projects like the SENS if this discover really does herald new techniques. I emphasize again to many fortunate enough to be in the lab; it might be much easier to reprogram the mDNA than try and insert it in the nucleus but if this discovery is correct it may be easier to insert the necessary mDNA into the larger human genome than we thought. So now it becomes a question of optimizing that form for insertion.

http://www.rochester...how.php?id=2963

MEDIA CONTACT: Jonathan Sherwood (585) 273-4726, jonathan.sherwood@rochester.edu

August 30, 2007
One Species' Genome Discovered Inside Another's

Bacterial to Animal Gene Transfers Now Shown to be Widespread, with Implications for Evolution and Control of Diseases and Pests

Scientists at the University of Rochester and the J. Craig Venter Institute have discovered a copy of the genome of a bacterial parasite residing inside the genome of its host species.

The research, reported in today's Science, also shows that lateral gene transfer—the movement of genes between unrelated species—may happen much more frequently between bacteria and multicellular organisms than scientists previously believed, posing dramatic implications for evolution.

Such large-scale heritable gene transfers may allow species to acquire new genes and functions extremely quickly, says Jack Werren, a principal investigator of the study. If such genes provide new abilities in species that cause or transmit disease, they could provide new targets for fighting these diseases.

The results also have serious repercussions for genome-sequencing projects. Bacterial DNA is routinely discarded when scientists are assembling invertebrate genomes, yet these genes may very well be part of the organism's genome, and might even be responsible for functioning traits.

"This study establishes the widespread occurrence and high frequency of a process that we would have dismissed as science fiction until just a few years ago," says W. Ford Doolittle, Canada Research Chair in Comparative Microbial Genomics at Dalhousie University, who is not connected to the study. "This is stunning evidence for increased frequency of gene transfer." (excerpt)


http://news.yahoo.co...genomeintoflies

Parasites Sneak Entire Genome into Flies

Dave Mosher, LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com Thu Aug 30, 2:15 PM ET

Spineless creatures of the world, watch out: Bacteria can slip their entire genetic codes into yours. Scientists have discovered the parasitic microbe Wolbachia's entire genome—the software of life—inside that of its fruit fly host.

The breakthrough suggests that movement of genes between two different species, called lateral gene transfer, happens faster and more frequently than scientists thought possible, leading them to rethink some ideas about evolution.

[caston]

This is one of the major weaknesses in the model of the Phylogenetic tree.
I see eukarota as a hybrid and complex mix of different simpler forms of life working in synergy while still reverting back to selfish behaviour under various conditions such as autophagy.

Mutagenesis can also occur from viral inserts into eukarotic DNA.

Edited by caston, 01 September 2007 - 08:49 AM.

[Lazarus Long]

Mitochondria that made eukariotic evolution possible are the result of just this type of wholesale gene insertion, except that mitos didn't completely assimilate into the host genome, they continued to live in the cytoplasm and maintain some genetic autonomy.

The same is true for chloroplasts, which function the same way for plants as mitochondria in animals. What is interesting is that if this study bears the test of time it may imply that this was more the exception than the rule.

In a bizarre twist on Dawkin's what if the ability to completely assimilate a genetic set of characteristics into a host by a parasite (whether they are latent or not) is the norm but maintaining the autonomy of true symbiotic semi-independent coexistence is not?

[Lazarus Long]

After making this comment in an unrelated thread:

I believe we are looking at the basis for a significant modification of not only theory but the creation of new methodologies to achieve our goals. However this is not about the viral theory of cancer specifically as much as a potentially profound discussion of genomic assimilation of latent characteristics that enhance genetic fitness through non random adaptability and latent acquisition.

It is also perhaps *why* viral cancers exist.

I thought it relevant to include here.

This discovery could explain in a more comprehensive manner not only a secondary yet critical aspect of evolution but also *why* there is both the existence of viral cancers and why the biological methods for these cancers to be recognized and purged out of the genome and prevented through apoptosis evolved to be so aggressive that they could even damage the host themselves through *autoimmune* disorders.

This sheds a different light on germ theory (not a contradiction) as well as genetic evolution if we are seeing a means of latent acquisition of characteristics that do not get triggered automatically but are assimilated into the host's genome and can be triggered by changes in environmental conditions later in life or in subsequent generations.

Edited by Lazarus Long, 02 September 2007 - 12:37 PM.

[Lazarus Long]

Two more important considerations about the relevance of this finding if confirmed:

1: One, the genetic transcription is not viral, it is bacterial and represents the entire bacterial genome, which could represent a number of potentially useful or harmful characteristics but also could just end up as what we still incorrectly call *junk DNA*.

These characteristics would then have to undergo haploid redistribution in the host genome and might not survive meiosis completely intact but could end up as a recessive characteristics in a population because:

2: Second, if confirmed, this also introduces a biological method to support Group Selection. The ability of bacterial infection to result in genetic assimilation suggest that such an infection could impact more than one individual of a population simultaneously and that once assimilated into that species genome through this method of transcription, the environmental triggers that activate advantageous (or destructive) characteristics could simultaneously impact multiple individuals in that population, resulting in not only a more powerful selection pressure but also reproductive selection by survivor groups with now inheritable genetic characteristics.

[caston]

Is genetic assimulation via bacterial infection something that probably undermines the individual (or the soma) but provides an element of change (be it for better or for worse) to the germline?

[Lazarus Long]

Is genetic assimulation via bacterial infection something that probably undermines the individual (or the soma) but provides an element of change (be it for better or for worse) to the germline?

This is a valid question to ask that requires much more study to answer . IOW's we do not know the *degree* to which this would occur but it is consistent with why our immune systems work the way they do to identify foreign genes and closely defend genetic fidelity.

Here is a relevant cross discussion about so called *Junk DNA*.

http://www.imminst.o...T&f=176&t=16469

[caston]

Thanks Lazarus,

I was reminded of a recent Nobel prize awarded for linking peptic ulcer disease to bacterial infection and even showing a link with cancer:

http://nobelprize.or...ion-speech.html

Edited by caston, 02 September 2007 - 01:57 PM.

[Lazarus Long]

Good example Caston. From the your link .

Today we know that most ulcers are caused by Helicobacter infection. A chronic infection that involves the entire stomach also increases the risk of stomach cancer, the second most common of all forms of cancer. People are infected in their early childhood years and then carry the infection throughout their life. Half of humanity is infected, but luckily most people have no symptoms of the infection. Helicobacter pylori lives only in the human stomach. From the standpoint of both the bacterium and its human host, ulcer disease, cancer and death are to be regarded as a failure in an otherwise long and relatively harmonious relationship.

Barry Marshall and Robin Warren,

Against prevailing dogmas, you discovered that one of the most common and important diseases of mankind, peptic ulcer disease, is caused by a bacterial infection of the stomach. Your discovery has meant that this frequently chronic and disabling condition can now be permanently cured by antibiotics to the benefit of millions of patients. Your pioneering work has also stimulated research all around the world to better understand the link between chronic infections and diseases such as cancer.

[caston]

Could I suggest something radical like bacterial infection could be responsible for the Y chromosome and perhaps even the odd war lord?

[Lazarus Long]

You could suggest it but mostly as the basis of a sci-fi novel without a lot more study to support the hypothesis. Actually the Y chromosome idea is out there.

I remember reading some novel hypothesis on how the Y chromosome developed a while back that contained aspects of this discussion. I will look for it but you might try googling *the evolution of gender*.

[caston]

thanks I was reading this page actually:

http://www.scq.ubc.ca/?p=491

It said the Y chromsome appears to be mostly "junk DNA"


We can learn a lot about potential rejuvenation by studying reproduction. Most of us tend to get distracted by the process or the pursuit of it though.