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Transposons

The Distinct Roles of Selection, Horizontal Transfer and Natural Genetic Engineering in Dangerous Superbug Evolution

James A. Shapiro | Posted 10.29.2012 | Science
Read More: Antibiotic Resistance, William Hayes, Ruth Hall, Transmissable-Plasmid, Transposons, E.Coli, Integron, Superbugs, Resistance Plasmid, Science News
James A. Shapiro

There is no evolutionary phenomenon we understand better than multiple antibiotic resistance in bacteria. It has been occurring virtually synchronously with the development of molecular genetics for 60 years.

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Can Cells Bias Natural Genetic Engineering Toward Useful Evolutionary Outcomes?

James A. Shapiro | Posted 08.06.2012 | Science
Read More: Retrotransposons, Target Specificity, Transposons, Bias Towards Useful Changes, Slime Mold, Site-Specific Recombinase, Integrase, Fission Yeast, Dictyostelium Discoideum, Budding Yeast, Natural Genetic Engineering, Transcription Factors, Transmissable Plasmid, Integron, Mobile Genetic Elements, Tf1, Saccharomyces-Cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces Pombe, Evolution, DNA Replication, Ty1, ty5, ty3, Ty2, ty4, Tre-5a, Science News
James A. Shapiro

A few blogs ago I asked, "Where, in fact, do 'the good ones' really come from?" By "good ones" I meant useful genome changes in evolution. This question stimulated some debate about whether it was possible to distinguish good changes from bad changes before they occur.

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