“[T]he pfhrp2 deletions had arisen recently and hadn’t had time for mutation and
recombination to scramble the DNA sequences nearby. So,
all the [malaria] parasites that carry the pfhrp2 deletion seemed to have
inherited it from the same ancestor, that ancestor was very recent, and there
was a selective pressure that was driving the expansion of parasites that
inherited the deletion.”
posted 8/12/2022 8:00pm ∞
“Wolves with antibodies against [Toxoplasma gondii ] were significantly more
likely to disperse (leave their packs and set out on their own) and to become
pack leaders. Pursuing both of these courses of action constitutes aggressive
and risky wolf behavior.”
posted 12/5/2022 8:00pm ∞
“[P]eople who were homozygous (had two copies) of this protective gene variant
involved in antigen presentation were 40 percent more likely to survive the
plague than those with two copies of a deleterious variant, which encodes a
broken protein.”
posted 11/3/2022 8:00pm ∞
“Settlements typically include a small group — usually a few dozen people —
branching off from a larger population on the island of origin. By chance, a
few of the genetic variants that are rare in the large population would be
common in the settlers.”
“A major reason that these odd-sided cells were necessary is that the bees will
start building at different sites by making honeycombs with different
orientations. Thus, as these different segments grow to meet each other, their
hexagonal arrays will be oriented with incompatible angles.”
posted 7/30/2022 8:20pm ∞