Related papers: Epigenetics: What it is about?
Molecular biology is a nanotechnology that works--it has worked for billions of years and in an amazing variety of circumstances. At its core is a system for acquiring, processing and communicating information that is universal, from…
A number of concepts are included in the term 'consciousness'. We choose to concentrate here on phenomenal consciousness, the process through which we are able to experience aspects of our environment or of our physical state. We probably…
The epigenetic pathway of a cell as it differentiates from a stem cell state to a mature lineage-committed one has been historically understood in terms of Waddington's landscape, consisting of hills and valleys. The smooth top and…
Genomics methods have uncovered patterns in a range of biological systems, but obscure important aspects of cell behavior: the shape, relative locations of, movement of, and interactions between cells in space. Spatial technologies that…
A previous report claimed no evidence of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in a mouse model of in utero environmental exposure, based on the observation that gene expression changes observed in the germ cells of G1 and G2 male fetus…
The question of what determines genetic diversity both between and within species has long remained unsolved by the modern evolutionary theory (MET). However, it has not deterred researchers from producing interpretations of genetic…
How we choose to represent our data has a fundamental impact on our ability to subsequently extract information from them. Machine learning promises to automatically determine efficient representations from large unstructured datasets, such…
Gene regulatory networks are powerful abstractions of biological systems. Since the advent of high-throughput measurement technologies in biology in the late 90s, reconstructing the structure of such networks has been a central…
The origin of life is shrouded in mystery, with few surviving clues, obscured by evolutionary competition. Previous reviews have touched on the complementary approaches of top-down and bottom-up synthetic biology to augment our…
Our understanding of the evolutionary process has gone a long way since the publication, 150 years ago, of "On the origin of species" by Charles R. Darwin. The XXth Century witnessed great efforts to embrace replication, mutation, and…
There is little doubt in scientific circles that--counting from the origin of life towards today--evolution has led to an increase in the amount of information stored within the genomes of the biosphere. This trend of increasing information…
Genetic studies of human traits have revolutionized our understanding of the variation between individuals, and opened the door for numerous breakthroughs in biology, medicine and other scientific fields. And yet, the ultimate promise of…
A major goal of molecular evolutionary biology is to identify loci or regions of the genome under selection versus those evolving in a neutral manner. Correct identification allows accurate inference of the evolutionary process and thus…
Biological engineering, the convergence between engineering and biology, is at the forefront of significant advances in healthcare, agriculture, and environmental sustainability, making it highly relevant to current scientific and societal…
Epigenetics is a driving force of important and ubiquitous phenomena in nature such as cell differentiation or even metamorphosis. Oppositely to its widespread role, understanding the biophysical principles that allow epigenetics to control…
Diversity is an important factor in evolutionary algorithms to prevent premature convergence towards a single local optimum. In order to maintain diversity throughout the process of evolution, various means exist in literature. We analyze…
The relationship between microscopic observations and macroscopic behavior is a fundamental open question in biophysical systems. Here, we develop a unified approach that---in contrast with existing methods---predicts cell type from…
The question "What is life?" has been asked and studied by the researchers of various fields. Nevertheless, no global theory which unified various aspects of life has been proposed so far. Considering that the physical principle for the…
Biomolecular networks have already found great utility in characterizing complex biological systems arising from pair-wise interactions amongst biomolecules. Here, we review how graph theoretical approaches can be applied not only for a…
In multi-cellular organisms, cells differentiate into multiple types as they divide. States of these cell types, as well as their numbers, are known to be robust to external perturbations; as conceptualized by Waddington's epigenetic…