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Repeated evolution of super-vision shakes up the dogma of deep-sea vision
I will repeat myself again, but i have to say it one more time – it is not easy to understand how natural selection works. Deep-sea species. One would expect, that so deep, where is no light, no eyes are needed at all. But not this time … Here, random mutations AKA unguided natural process […]
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Repeated evolution: same pseudogenes evolved independently in human and non-human primate lineages
What is left of common ancestry and shared DNA errors ? A pseudogene is defined to be a gene that has lost its function, especially it has lost the ability of coding protein. In general, a pseudogene is generated by gain of premature stop codons due to point mutations or flame-shift mutations. The acceptance of […]
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Repeated evolution: 11 Mitochondrial Genes in Deep-Sea Fishes changed the same way independently
The adaptive evolution of the mtDNA may reflect that aerobic metabolism plays a more important role than anaerobic metabolism in deep-sea fishes, whose energy sources (food) are extremely limited. This strategy maximizes the usage of energy sources. Eleven mitochondrial genes have convergent/parallel amino acid changes between branches of deep-sea fishes. Thus, these amino acid sites […]
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Repeated evolution: The same mutation occurred 20 times independently in fishes’ light-sensitive eye-protein.
Here we show that a missense mutation in rhodopsin (Phe261Tyr) is an adaptation to the red-shifted Baltic Sea light environment. The transition from phenylalanine to tyrosine differs only by the presence of a hydroxyl moiety in the latter, but this results in an up to 10-nm red-shifted light absorbance of the receptor. Remarkably, an examination […]
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Repeated evolution of placental structures: Evolved, devolved, and re-evolved many times
Obviously, evolutionary biologists believe in some kind of magic – it would be a miracle if such a placental structure would evolve once, by random unguided process without foresight, because placental structures require an interaction / cooperation of both, the mother and fetus. However, here we read, that the miracle happened many times. First, these […]
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Repeated evolution: Despite biochemically complex, C4 photosynthesis evolved repeatedly more than 60 times
Another miraculous stuff happened here, let me quote from a mainstream paper. Even the author finds the evolution of C4 photosynthesis ‘somewhat puzzling’ because it requires ‘dozen of genes’ to be changed simultaneously – the right way – in at least 60 evolutionary unrelated cases: Both C4 photosynthesis and CAM have evolved independently multiple times […]
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Repeated evolution: Gastropod’s coiled shell
from a mainstream paper: The re-evolution of a coiled shell, or any complex character, is considered unlikely or impossible (Dollo’s law) because the loss of the character is followed by the loss of the genetic architecture and developmental mechanisms that underlie that character. Here, we quantify the level of coiling in calyptraeids, a family of […]
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Surprising repeated devolution: Various species lineages lost teeth independently, despite crucial role of teeth in species survival
i will repeat myself yet again: it is not easy to understand how natural selection works … even the researcher below is quite surprised (these guys are always surprised): Since their recruitment in the oral cavity, approximately 450 million years ago, teeth have been subjected to strong selective constraints due to the crucial role that […]
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Repeated evolution: Webbed foot evolved many times independently
The webbed foot is a specialized limb present in a variety of vertebrates that aids in locomotion. This adaptation is primarily found in semi-aquatic species, and has convergently (repeatedly) evolved many times across vertebrate taxa. It likely arose from mutations in developmental genes that normally cause tissue between the digits to apoptose. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webbed_foot one would think, that there was some […]
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Repeated evolution: Viral envelope has evolved several times independently
In sum, our extensive review has revealed a close association between cell walls and nonenveloped viruses that was not bound to particular types of host organism. The cell wall provides a physical barrier that hinders the interaction of receptors on the viral envelope with receptors in the cell membrane, an interaction that is central to […]