[HN Gopher] Large-scale genetic modification reveals role of dup...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Large-scale genetic modification reveals role of duplicated genes
       in plants
        
       Author : wglb
       Score  : 36 points
       Date   : 2023-05-16 14:35 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (phys.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
        
       | wingspar wrote:
       | So how do naturally occurring mutations in the gene family
       | members, get propagated thru the species?
       | 
       | Meaning, if a gene family blunts the effects of random mutation
       | on the individual gene level, how does natural selection
       | 'improve' the species?
       | 
       | Multiple copies in the gene family apparently inhibit any
       | mutations in the 'family member' from impacting the overall
       | plant.
        
         | pawelmurias wrote:
         | Because most mutations are negative animals are evolving
         | towards evolving less.
        
         | jprafael wrote:
         | Natural selection improved the species by adding this
         | redundancy in the first place. Mutations are very frequent and
         | some of the phenotypes are critical/desirable for the offspring
         | to survive. This way, the gene families serve as a protection
         | against mutations on the critical genes, so that mutations on
         | other genes can be passed on more frequently (without dying).
         | By adjusting the relative sizes between families, the
         | plant/natural selection can modulate the frequency in which
         | mutations affect each phenotype.
         | 
         | Mutations to redundant genes are still beneficial to natural
         | selection. The overall population will have a varied mixture of
         | genes. While _we_ consider that the phenotype is equivalent
         | between all of them, some will have improved efficiency,
         | resistance to pathogens, etc. These unknown phenotypes will
         | only be known when the subject is exposed to an environment
         | where that phenotype is beneficial.
         | 
         | Redundancy also helps the evolution process by making it easier
         | to have mutations happen in small increments. One offspring
         | could have a functional A gene mutated to non-functional A'
         | gene and still survive, and then their offspring could have
         | another mutation A'' which is better than the original.
         | 
         | disclaimer: not from a bio-science background, but all of this
         | applies in the field of genetic algorithms
        
         | washadjeffmad wrote:
         | Adaptation can occur when a tendency for a mutation occurs
         | without necessarily being expressed if the environment lends
         | itself to decreasing the viability of the normal expression in
         | offspring.
         | 
         | Redundancy isn't everything. Women can still be colorblind, etc
         | despite having two X chromosomes.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-05-17 23:02 UTC)