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We hypothesize that as one of the most consequential events in evolution, primary endosymbiosis accelerates lineage divergence, a process we refer to as the endosymbiotic ratchet. Our proposal is supported by recent work on the photosynthetic amoeba, Paulinella, that underwent primary plastid endosymbiosis about 124 Mya. This amoeba model allows us to explore the early impacts of photosynthetic organelle...
With the potential to process the world's agricultural and food waste, provide sustainable fodder for livestock, aquaculture, and pet animals, as well as act as a source of novel biomolecules, the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, has been launched into the leading position within the insects as feed industry. Fulfilment of these goals, however, requires mass‐rearing facilities to have a steady...
Small tandem DNA duplications in the range of 15 to 300 base‐pairs play an important role in the aetiology of human disease and contribute to genome diversity. Here, we discuss different proposed mechanisms for their occurrence and argue that this type of structural variation mainly results from mutagenic repair of chromosomal breaks. This hypothesis is supported by both bioinformatical analysis of...
The tumor suppressor protein p53 is known for its role as transcription factor, controlling the expression of numerous genes involved in important cellular processes such as cell cycle and cell death. In article 2200122, Yu‐Hsiu Wang and Michael Sheetz comment on some recently discovered additional functions of p53. These transcription‐independent features involve the choice of DNA damage repair pathway...
Recently discovered transcription‐independent features of p53 involve the choice of DNA damage repair pathway after PARylation, and p53's complex formation with phosphoinositide lipids, PI(4,5)P2. PARylation‐mediated rapid accumulation of p53 at DNA damage sites is linked to the recruitment of downstream repair factors and tumor suppression. This links p53's capability to sense damaged DNA in vitro...
While heredity is predominantly controlled by what deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences are passed from parents to their offspring, a small but growing number of traits have been shown to be regulated in part by the non‐genetic inheritance of information. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is defined as heritable information passed from parents to their offspring without changing the DNA sequence...
The initial relationships between organisms leading to endosymbiosis and the first eukaryote are currently a topic of hot debate. Here, I present a theory that offers a gradual scenario in which the origins of phagocytosis and mitochondria are intertwined in such a way that the evolution of one would not be possible without the other. In this scenario, the premitochondrial bacterial symbiont became...
All animals have evolved solutions to manage their genomes, enabling the efficient organization of meters of DNA strands in the nucleus and allowing for nuanced regulation of gene expression while keeping transposable elements suppressed. Epigenetic modifications are central to accomplishing all these. Recent advances in sequencing technologies and the development of techniques that profile epigenetic...
Cancers often express hundreds of genes otherwise specific to germ cells, the germline/cancer (GC) genes. Here, we present and discuss the hypothesis that activation of a “germline program” promotes cancer cell malignancy. We do so by proposing four hallmark processes of the germline: meiosis, epigenetic plasticity, migration, and metabolic plasticity. Together, these hallmarks enable replicative...
Almost 40 years since the discovery of microtubule dynamic instability, the molecular mechanisms underlying microtubule dynamics remain an area of intense research interest. The “standard model” of microtubule dynamics implicates a “cap” of GTP‐bound tubulin dimers at the growing microtubule end as the main determinant of microtubule stability. Loss of the GTP‐cap leads to microtubule “catastrophe,”...
In contrast to bilaterian animals, non‐bilaterian mitochondrial genomes contain atypical genes, often attributed to horizontal gene transfer (HGT) as an ad hoc explanation. Although prevalent in plants, HGT into animal mitochondrial genomes is rare, lacking suitable explanatory models for their occurrence. HGT of the mismatch DNA repair gene (mtMutS) from giant viruses to octocoral (soft corals and...
Integrative mobile genetic elements (MGEs), such as transposons and insertion sequences, propagate within bacterial genomes, but persistence times in individual lineages are short. For long‐term survival, MGEs must continuously invade new hosts by horizontal transfer. Theoretically, MGEs that persist for millions of years in single lineages, and are thus subject to vertical inheritance, should not...
Recent years have seen an emergence of the field of comparative cancer genomics. However, the advancements in this field are held back by the hesitation to use knowledge obtained from human studies to study cancer in other animals, and vice versa. Since cancer is an ancient disease that arose with multicellularity, oncogenes and tumour‐suppressor genes are amongst the oldest gene classes, shared by...
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