Role of cryptic genes in microbial evolution.
TLDR
It is proposed that cryptic genes persist as a vital element of the genetic repertoire, ready for recall by mutational activation in future generations, indicating that powerful and biologically important mechanisms exist to prevent the loss of cryptic genes.Abstract:
Cryptic genes are phenotypically silent DNA sequences, not normally expressed during the life cycle of an individual. They may, however, be activated in a few individuals of a large population by mutation, recombination, insertion elements, or other genetic mechanisms. A consideration of the microbial literature concerning biochemical evolution, physiology, and taxonomy provides the basis for a hypothesis of microbial adaptation and evolution by mutational activation of cryptic genes. Evidence is presented, and a mathematical model is derived, indicating that powerful and biologically important mechanisms exist to prevent the loss of cryptic genes. We propose that cryptic genes persist as a vital element of the genetic repertoire, ready for recall by mutational activation in future generations. Cryptic genes provide a versatile endogenous genetic reservoir that enhances the adaptive potential of a species by a mechanism that is independent of genetic exchange.read more
Citations
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A bacterial genome in flux: the twelve linear and nine circular extrachromosomal DNAs in an infectious isolate of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.
Sherwood R. Casjens,Nanette Palmer,René Van Vugt,Wai Mun Huang,Brian Stevenson,Patricia A. Rosa,Raju Lathigra,Granger G. Sutton,Jeremy Peterson,Robert J. Dodson,Daniel H. Haft,Erin Hickey,Michelle L. Gwinn,Owen White,Claire M. Fraser +14 more
TL;DR: It is determined that Borrelia burgdorferi strain B31 MI carries 21 extrachromosomal DNA elements, the largest number known for any bacterium, and the nucleotide sequence of three linear and seven circular plasmids in this infectious isolate is reported.
Journal ArticleDOI
A yeast prion provides a mechanism for genetic variation and phenotypic diversity
Heather L. True,Susan Lindquist +1 more
TL;DR: It is proposed that the epigenetic and metastable nature of [PSI+] inheritance allows yeast cells to exploit pre-existing genetic variation to thrive in fluctuating environments and the capacity of [Psi+] to convert previously neutral genetic variations to a non-neutral state may facilitate the evolution of new traits.
Journal ArticleDOI
Biosynthesis and metabolism of arginine in bacteria.
TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-modelling study of the regulation of metabolic flow in E. coli through the pathways of Arginine, Citrulline, and Ornithine and concludes that these pathways are dominated by bacteria with extensive repression control.
Journal ArticleDOI
When Less Is More: Gene Loss as an Engine of Evolutionary Change
TL;DR: To understand the biology of natural populations—including, most notably, that of the human—the authors need testable ideas about the types of mutations that evolution is likely to have favored in the recent past.
Journal ArticleDOI
Bacterial Genome Instability
Elise Darmon,David R. F. Leach +1 more
TL;DR: The specialized genetic elements and the endogenous processes that contribute to genome instability are described and the consequences of genome instability at the physiological level, and at the evolutionary level, where horizontal gene transfer has played an important role.
References
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