Study Suggests Genome Instability Hotspots

Dr. Eggman writes "Ars Technica reports on a new study that suggests not only that certain areas of the mouse genome undergo more changes, but that changes to those areas are more tolerable by the organism than changes in other areas. Recently published in Nature Genetics, the study examined the certain copy number variations of the C57Bl/6 strain in mice that have been diverging for less than 1,000 generations. The results were a surprising number of variations. While the study does not address it, Ars Technica goes on to recount suggestions that genomes evolved to the point where they work well with evolution."

heh

[Kingrames]

"...evolved to the point where they work well with evolution"

ya think?

Re:heh

[KillerCow]

"It is not the strongest among the species that survive nor is it the most intelligent. It's those that are most adaptive to change." - Charles Darwin

Re:heh

[vegiVamp]

Meta-evolution, then - it evolves the process of evolving into it's most optimal state, or at least with a strong preference for the rate that can be sustained for the longest time by the most entities.

Re:heh

[virtualXTC]

Nice parenthetic, as indeed, this has been known for quite some time and is why DNA can be used for fingerprinting as well as for linage studies. It has been known for decades that mitochondria, which take our genes and translate them into proteins, are encoded by a specific set of DNA which are located outside of the nucleus and its sequence is EXTREMELY conserved. The theory has always been that they are so essential that mutations are just not tolerated.

The article summary is poor, the real story is the direct confirmation of how CNV's (copy number variations) related to disease.