Latest Intragenomic conflict Stories
Brown University Biologists have been observing the “selfish” genetic entity segregation distorter (SD) in fruit flies for decades. Its story is a thriller among molecules, in which the SD gene destroys maturing sperm that have a rival chromosome. A new study reveals a tactic that gives SD’s villainy an extra edge. For a bunch of inanimate chemical compounds, the nucleic and amino acids caught up in the infamous “selfish” segregation distorter (SD) saga have put on quite a...
In the twentieth century the sequencing of an entire genome of a higher (eukaryotic) organism was a truly exceptional event – by the end of the year 2000, only four such sequences were available. Since then, technological advances have put whole-genome sequencing within the reach of many more groups and new sequences have appeared at regular intervals. Viola Nolte in the group of Christian Schlötterer at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has just published the first...
Latest Intragenomic conflict Reference Libraries
Wolbachia is a genus of bacteria which infects arthropod species, including a high proportion of insects (~60% of species). It is one of the world's most common parasitic microbes and possibly the most common reproductive parasite in biosphere. Studies have suggested that 25-70% of all insect species are estimated to be potential hosts. Marshall Hertig and Burt Wolbach first identified the bacterium in 1924 in a species of mosquito. Hertig described the genus as Wolbachia pipientis. Not...
