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Animals have evolved a bewildering diversity of mechanisms to determine the two sexes. Studies of sex determination genes – their history and function – in non‐model insects and Drosophila have allowed us to begin to understand the generation of sex determination diversity. One common theme from these studies is that evolved mechanisms produce activities in either males or females to control a shared...
In the adult nervous system, chemical neurotransmission between neurons is essential for information processing. However, neurotransmission is also important for patterning circuits during development, but its precise roles have yet to be identified, and some remain highly debated. Here, we highlight viewpoints that have come to be widely accepted or still challenged. We discuss how distinct techniques...
A simple model, termed “occlusis”, is presented here to account for both cell fate restriction during somatic development and reestablishment of pluripotency during reproduction. The model makes three assertions: (1) A gene's transcriptional potential can assume one of two states: the “competent” state, wherein the gene is responsive to, and can be activated by, trans‐acting factors in the cellular...
Small vessel diseases (SVDs) of the brain are the leading cause of vascular cognitive impairment and a major contributor to stroke in the human adult, however, their pathogenesis is poorly understood. Dominant mutations in NOTCH3 cause CADASIL, one of the most prevalent inherited cerebral SVDs. The disease gene encodes a transmembrane receptor primarily expressed in smooth muscle cells of small arteries...
Whether occurrence of life at the physicochemical extremes results from the entire adaptation of organisms to such settings or it originates from the action of a few genes has been debated for a long time. Recent evidence suggests that a limited number of functions suffice to change the predilection of microorganisms for radically different environmental scenarios. For instance, expression of a few...
We suggest that the commonly observed trade‐offs between early‐ and late‐life reproduction may be mediated by genetic variation in germline stem cell maintenance. Stem cell biology provides a natural framework and experimental methods for understanding the mechanistic basis of life‐history evolution. At the same time, natural variation in life‐history strategies can serve as a powerful tool for identifying...
Bacteria, the most abundant organisms on the planet, are outnumbered by a factor of 10 to 1 by phages that infect them. Faced with the rapid evolution and turnover of phage particles, bacteria have evolved various mechanisms to evade phage infection and killing, leading to an evolutionary arms race. The extensive co‐evolution of both phage and host has resulted in considerable diversity on the part...
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