Related papers: Transposable element sequence evolution is influen…
Gene regulation in higher eukaryotes involves a complex interplay between the gene proximal promoter and distal genomic elements (such as enhancers) which work in concert to drive spatio-temporal expression. The experimental…
We have used the Monte Carlo based computer models to show that selection pressure could affect the distribution of recombination hotspots along the chromosome. Close to critical crossover rate, where genomes may switch between the…
The baseline level of transcription, which is variable and difficult to quantify, seriously complicates the normalization of comparative transcriptomic data, but its biological importance remains unappreciated. We show that this currently…
The "developmental hourglass" describes a pattern of increasing morphological divergence towards earlier and later embryonic development, separated by a period of significant conservation across distant species (the "phylotypic stage").…
Biological evolution can be conceptualized as a search process in the space of gene sequences guided by the fitness landscape, a mapping that assigns a measure of reproductive value to each genotype. Here we discuss probabilistic models of…
The level of supercoiling in the chromosome can affect gene expression. To clarify the basis of supercoiling sensitivity, we analyzed the structural features of nucleotide sequences in the vicinity of promoters for the genes with expression…
We have investigated the influence of the plasma membrane environment on the molecular evolution of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the largest receptor family in Metazoa. In particular, we have analyzed the site-specific rate…
Radioisotopic ages for meteorites and their components provide constraints on the evolution of small bodies: timescales of accretion, thermal and aqueous metamorphism, differentiation, cooling and impact metamorphism. Realising that the…
Evolution of the amino acid sequences of transthyretin (TTR) can provide additional information about its dynamics that both complements and extends the already extensive static structural data. Protein dynamics is largely driven by…
Supergenes are genomic regions containing sets of tightly linked loci that control multi-trait phenotypic polymorphisms under balancing selection. Recent advances in genomics have uncovered significant variation in both the genomic…
Background: The length of a protein sequence is largely determined by its function, i.e. each functional group is associated with an optimal size. However, comparative genomics revealed that proteins length may be affected by additional…
This study examines how patterns on mammal body surfaces change as they transition from juveniles to adults and with seasonal variations. Our previous research suggests that patterns formed in infancy may fade due to the growing domain…
Mutations can arise from the chance misincorporation of nucleotides during DNA replication or from DNA lesions that are not repaired correctly. We introduce a model that relates the source of mutations to their accumulation with cell…
Developmental trajectories are known to be canalized, or robust to both environmental and genetic perturbations. However, even when these trajectories are decanalized by an environmental perturbation outside of the range of conditions to…
Large scale databases are available that contain homologous gene families constructed from hundreds of complete genome sequences from across the three domains of Life. Here we discuss approches of increasing complexity aimed at extracting…
The current theory of evolution is almost the one Darwin and Wallace proposed two centuries ago and the following discoveries e.g., Mendelian genetics and neutral mutation theory have not made significant modifications. The current…
Much of the on-going statistical analysis of DNA sequences is focused on the estimation of characteristics of coding and non-coding regions that would possibly allow discrimination of these regions. In the current approach, we concentrate…
Star clusters are the building blocks of galaxies. They are composed of stars of nearly equal age and chemical composition, allowing us to use them as chronometers and as testbeds for gauging stellar evolution. It has become clear recently…
Characterizing the link between small-scale chromatin structure and large-scale chromosome folding during interphase is a prerequisite for understanding transcription. Yet, this link remains poorly investigated. Here, we introduce a simple…
In the human genomes, recombination frequency between homologous chromosomes during meiosis is highly correlated with their physical length while it differs significantly when their coding density is considered. Furthermore, it has been…