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Journal ArticleDOI

The origin of mutants

John Cairns, +2 more
- 08 Sep 1988 - 
- Vol. 335, Iss: 6186, pp 142-145
TLDR
Some experiments suggesting that cells may have mechanisms for choosing which mutations will occur are described, and the source of this idea is briefly reviewed.
Abstract
Nucleic acids are replicated with conspicuous fidelity. Infrequently, however, they undergo changes in sequence, and this process of change (mutation) generates the variability that allows evolution. As the result of studies of bacterial variation, it is now widely believed that mutations arise continuously and without any consideration for their utility. In this paper, we briefly review the source of this idea and then describe some experiments suggesting that cells may have mechanisms for choosing which mutations will occur.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

A constant rate of spontaneous mutation in DNA-based microbes.

TL;DR: A nearly invariant microbial mutation rate appears to have evolved in several DNA-based haploid microbes, likely to be determined by deep general forces, perhaps by a balance between the usually deleterious effects of mutation and the physiological costs of further reducing mutation rates.
Journal ArticleDOI

Turning a hobby into a job: how duplicated genes find new functions.

TL;DR: Genomic data suggest that different gene classes tend to be retained after single-gene and whole-genome duplications, and in many cases the 'new' function of one copy is a secondary property that was always present, but that has been co-opted to a primary role after the duplication.
Journal ArticleDOI

Cellulase, Clostridia, and Ethanol

TL;DR: The need for such a process, the cellulases of clostridia, their presence in extracellular complexes or organelles (the cellulosomes), the binding of the cellulosome to cellulose and to the cell surface, cellulase genetics, regulation of their synthesis, cocultures, ethanol tolerance, and metabolic pathway engineering for maximizing ethanol yield are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Flow cytometry and cell sorting of heterogeneous microbial populations: the importance of single-cell analyses.

TL;DR: Flow cytometry is a technique, which allows one to analyze cells rapidly and individually and permits the quantitative analysis of microbial heterogeneity, and offers many advantages over conventional measurements for both routine and more exploratory analyses of microbial properties.
Journal ArticleDOI

Multiple Trait Analysis of Genetic Mapping for Quantitative Trait Loci

Changjian Jiang, +1 more
- 01 Jul 1995 - 
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a model and statistical methods for performing multiple trait analysis on mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) based on the composite interval mapping method, taking into account the correlated structure of multiple traits, including the expected improvement on the statistical power of the test for QTL and on the precision of parameter estimation.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Mutations of bacteria from virus sensitivity to virus resistance

TL;DR: This article reported Luria and Delbruck's breakthrough study in which they established that viruses do not induce mutations in bacteria, but that virus-resisting mutations are spontaneous.
Journal ArticleDOI

The distribution of the numbers of mutants in bacterial populations.

TL;DR: Statistical calculations are made of the distribution numbers of mutants in a culture of bacteria in which the number of mutants increases on account of new mutations and of division of old mutants, which enable the mutation rate to be inferred from experiments with parallel cultures.
Journal ArticleDOI

Replica plating and indirect selection of bacterial mutants

TL;DR: An approach to this problem that makes use of a replica plating technique which facilitates the handling of large numbers of bacterial clones for classification on a variety of media is concerned.
Journal ArticleDOI

Insertion of DNA activates the cryptic bgl operon in E. coli K12

TL;DR: Two insertion elements, IS1 and IS5, have been observed to effect activation of the cryptic bgl operon of Escherichia coli K12 and the operon is inducible by βglucosides in a cyclic AMP-dependent manner.
Journal ArticleDOI

Observations on the formation of clones containing araB-lacZ cistron fusions.

TL;DR: The appearance over time of colonies containing araB-lacZ fusions from a strain where the begining of the aRAB cistron is connected to lacZ by an intact Mucts62 prophage is followed, showing a rapid increase in the number of new colonies emerging per day followed by a decline.
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