Infinitely long branches and an informal test of common ancestry.

abstract：:All modern cells are bounded by cell membranes best described by the fluid mosaic model. This statement is so widely accepted by biologists that little attention is generally given to the theoretical importance of cell membranes in describing the cell. This has not always been the case. When the Cell Theory was first ...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Lombard J

更新日期：2014-12-19 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The CRISPR-Cas systems of adaptive antivirus immunity are present in most archaea and many bacteria, and provide resistance to specific viruses or plasmids by inserting fragments of foreign DNA into the host genome and then utilizing transcripts of these spacers to inactivate the cognate foreign genome. The ...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Berezovskaya FS,Wolf YI,Koonin EV,Karev GP

更新日期：2014-07-02 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:While all codons that specify amino acids are universally recognized by tRNA molecules, codons signaling termination of translation are recognized by proteins known as class-I release factors (RF). In most eukaryotes and archaea a single RF accomplishes termination at all three stop codons. In most bacteria,...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Baranov PV,Vestergaard B,Hamelryck T,Gesteland RF,Nyborg J,Atkins JF

更新日期：2006-09-13 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:In genetics it is customary to refer to double-stranded DNA as containing a "Watson strand" and a "Crick strand." However, there seems to be no consensus in the literature on the exact meaning of these two terms, and the many usages contradict one another as well as the original definition. Here, we review t...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Cartwright RA,Graur D

更新日期：2011-02-08 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The rice blast disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae is a major constraint on world rice production. The conidia produced by this fungal pathogen are the main source of disease dissemination. The morphology of conidia may be a critical factor in the spore dispersal and virulence of M. oryzae in the field. Del...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Bhadauria V,Wang LX,Peng YL

更新日期：2010-11-02 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The origin of the selective nuclear protein import machinery, which consists of nuclear pore complexes and adaptor molecules interacting with the nuclear localization signals (NLSs) of cargo molecules, is one of the most important events in the evolution of eukaryotic cells. How proteins were selected for im...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Lisitsyna OM,Kurnaeva MA,Arifulin EA,Shubina MY,Musinova YR,Mironov AA,Sheval EV

更新日期：2020-04-28 00:00:00

abstract：:Plant viruses of the recently recognized family Amalgaviridae have monopartite double-stranded (ds) RNA genomes and encode two proteins: an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and a putative capsid protein (CP). Whereas the RdRp of amalgaviruses has been found to be most closely related to the RdRps of dsRNA viruses o...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Krupovic M,Dolja VV,Koonin EV

更新日期：2015-03-29 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:Our current understanding of evolution is so tightly linked to template-dependent replication of DNA and RNA molecules that the old idea from Oparin of a self-reproducing 'garbage bag' ('coacervate') of chemicals that predated fully-fledged cell-like entities seems to be farfetched to most scientists today. ...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Vasas V,Fernando C,Santos M,Kauffman S,Szathmáry E

更新日期：2012-01-05 00:00:00

abstract：:The provenance and biochemical roles of eukaryotic MORC proteins have remained poorly understood since the discovery of their prototype MORC1, which is required for meiotic nuclear division in animals. The MORC family contains a combination of a gyrase, histidine kinase, and MutL (GHKL) and S5 domains that together co...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Iyer LM,Abhiman S,Aravind L

更新日期：2008-03-17 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The transition from premalignant to invasive tumour growth is a prolonged multistep process governed by phenotypic adaptation to changing microenvironmental selection pressures. Cancer prevention strategies are required to interrupt or delay somatic evolution of the malignant invasive phenotype. Empirical st...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Smallbone K,Maini PK,Gatenby RA

更新日期：2010-04-20 00:00:00

abstract：:The concept of developmental constraints has been central to understand the role of development in morphological evolution. Developmental constraints are classically defined as biases imposed by development on the distribution of morphological variation.This opinion article argues that the concepts of developmental co...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Salazar-Ciudad I

更新日期：2021-01-09 00:00:00

abstract：UNLABELLED:Primase and GINS are essential factors for chromosomal DNA replication in eukaryotic and archaeal cells. Here we describe a previously undetected relationship between the C-terminal domain of the catalytic subunit (PriS) of archaeal primase and the B-domains of the archaeo-eukaryotic GINS proteins in the for...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Swiatek A,Macneill SA

更新日期：2010-04-12 00:00:00

abstract：UNLABELLED:In this work we review past articles that have mathematically studied cancer heterogeneity and the impact of this heterogeneity on the structure of optimal therapy. We look at past works on modeling how heterogeneous tumors respond to radiotherapy, and take a particularly close look at how the optimal radiot...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Badri H,Leder K

更新日期：2016-08-23 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:Mammalian genomes are repositories of repetitive DNA sequences derived from transposable elements (TEs). Typically, TEs generate multiple, mostly inactive copies of themselves, commonly known as repetitive families or families of repeats. Recently, we proposed that families of TEs originate in small populati...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Jurka J,Bao W,Kojima KK,Kohany O,Yurka MG

更新日期：2012-10-25 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:Currently a huge amount of protein-protein interaction data is available therefore extracting meaningful ones are a challenging task. In a protein-protein interaction network, hubs are considered as key proteins maintaining function and stability of the network. Therefore, studying protein-protein complexes ...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Choura M,Rebaï A

更新日期：2011-10-05 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The origin of eukaryotic cells was an important transition in evolution. The factors underlying the origin and evolutionary success of the eukaryote lineage are still discussed. One camp argues that mitochondria were essential for eukaryote origin because of the unique configuration of internalized bioenerge...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Gerlitz M,Knopp M,Kapust N,Xavier JC,Martin WF

更新日期：2018-10-03 00:00:00

abstract：:Two apparently irreconcilable models dominate research into the origin of eukaryotes. In one model, amitochondrial proto-eukaryotes emerged autogenously from the last universal common ancestor of all cells. Proto-eukaryotes subsequently acquired mitochondrial progenitors by the phagocytic capture of bacteria. In the s...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Bateman A

更新日期：2020-04-28 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:This essay highlights critical aspects of the plausibility of pre-Darwinian evolution. It is based on a critical review of some better-known open, far-from-equilibrium system-based scenarios supposed to explain processes that took place before Darwinian evolution had emerged and that resulted in the origin o...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Tessera M

更新日期：2018-09-21 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:Many studies of biochemical networks have analyzed network topology. Such work has suggested that specific types of network wiring may increase network robustness and therefore confer a selective advantage. However, knowledge of network topology does not allow one to predict network dynamical behavior--for e...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： McDonald D,Waterbury L,Knight R,Betterton MD

更新日期：2008-12-04 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:In the past, many methods have been developed for peptide tertiary structure prediction but they are limited to peptides having natural amino acids. This study describes a method PEPstrMOD, which is an updated version of PEPstr, developed specifically for predicting the structure of peptides containing natur...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Singh S,Singh H,Tuknait A,Chaudhary K,Singh B,Kumaran S,Raghava GP

更新日期：2015-12-21 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a major concern in drug development, as hepatotoxicity may not be apparent at early stages but can lead to life threatening consequences. The ability to predict DILI from in vitro data would be a crucial advantage. In 2018, the Critical Assessment Massive Data Analysis gro...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Chierici M,Francescatto M,Bussola N,Jurman G,Furlanello C

更新日期：2020-02-13 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:Identifying group-specific characteristics in metabolic networks can provide better insight into evolutionary developments. Here, we present an approach to classify the three domains of life using topological information about the underlying metabolic networks. These networks have been shown to share domain-...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Mueller LA,Kugler KG,Netzer M,Graber A,Dehmer M

更新日期：2011-10-13 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The prokaryotic toxin-antitoxin systems (TAS, also referred to as TA loci) are widespread, mobile two-gene modules that can be viewed as selfish genetic elements because they evolved mechanisms to become addictive for replicons and cells in which they reside, but also possess "normal" cellular functions in v...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Makarova KS,Wolf YI,Koonin EV

更新日期：2009-06-03 00:00:00

abstract：:Bacterial and Archaeal cells use selenium structurally in selenouridine-modified tRNAs, in proteins translated with selenocysteine, and in the selenium-dependent molybdenum hydroxylases (SDMH). The first two uses both require the selenophosphate synthetase gene, selD. Examining over 500 complete prokaryotic genomes fi...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Haft DH,Self WT

更新日期：2008-02-20 00:00:00

abstract：UNLABELLED:Recently Mycobacterium tuberculosis was shown to possess a novel protein modification, in which a small protein Pup is conjugated to the epsilon-amino groups of lysines in target proteins. Analogous to ubiquitin modification in eukaryotes, this remarkable modification recruits proteins for degradation via ar...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Iyer LM,Burroughs AM,Aravind L

更新日期：2008-11-03 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The overwhelming majority of animal species exhibit bilateral symmetry. However, the precise evolutionary importance of bilateral symmetry is unknown, although elements of the understanding of the phenomenon have been present within the scientific community for decades. PRESENTATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS:Here w...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Holló G,Novák M

更新日期：2012-07-12 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The availability of over 3000 published genome sequences has enabled the use of comparative genomic approaches to drive the biological function discovery process. Classically, one used to link gene with function by genetic or biochemical approaches, a lengthy process that often took years. Phylogenetic distr...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： de Crécy-Lagard V,Forouhar F,Brochier-Armanet C,Tong L,Hunt JF

更新日期：2012-09-26 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The elucidation of the dominant role of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in the evolution of prokaryotes led to a severe crisis of the Tree of Life (TOL) concept and intense debates on this subject. CONCEPT:Prompted by the crisis of the TOL, we attempt to define the primary units and the fundamental patterns ...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Koonin EV,Wolf YI

更新日期：2009-09-29 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:The current analysis of transposon elements (TE) in Drosophila melanogaster at Evolution Canyon, (EC), Israel, is based on data and analysis done by our collaborators (Drs. J. Gonzalez, J. Martinez and W. Makalowski, this issue). They estimated the frequencies of 28 TEs (transposon elements) in fruit flies (...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Beiles A,Raz S,Ben-Abu Y,Nevo E

更新日期：2015-10-14 00:00:00

abstract：BACKGROUND:One of the major challenges in the field of system biology is to understand the interaction between a wide range of proteins and ligands. In the past, methods have been developed for predicting binding sites in a protein for a limited number of ligands. RESULTS:In order to address this problem, we developed...

journal_title：Biology direct

authors： Singh H,Srivastava HK,Raghava GP

更新日期：2016-03-25 00:00:00