A team of German and US scientists has discovered that genetic
mutation - the basic process of evolution - occurs much faster than
previously thought, according to a study published Friday.
The team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for
Molecular Biology in Tuebingen and the University of Indiana
studied genome mutation in a species of cress (Arabidopsis
thaliana), and found that each gene in the plant will mutate on
average once in every 143 million generations.
Genomes are the complete set of genetic information for any
organism, consisting of individual genes found in DNA.
"While the long-term effects of genome mutations are quite well
understood, we did not know how often new mutations arise in the
first place," project leader Detlef Weigel of the Max Planck
Institute said in a press statement.
The discovery means that for many plant species, whose millions
of individual members produce thousands of seeds with each
generation, an entire genome mutation can occur within a relatively
short space of time.
"Evolution reveals itself only after thousands, not millions of
years," Weigel said.
Such a rate of genetic change can explain how species adapt to
changing circumstances quickly, and the study gives the example of
weeds becoming resistant to specific herbicides within just a few
generations.
The team used new methods to track all the genetic changes in
five "lines" (plants with common ancestors) of Arabidopsis thaliana
over 30 generations. In the final generation they searched for
differences to the original plants.
"To ferret out where the genome had changed was only possible
because of new methods that allowed us to screen the entire genome
with high precision and in a very short time," Weigel said.
The team said that the same speed of genetic change could in
theory be expected in human DNA, meaning that with six billion
people on earth each form of human gene would be permanently
mutating somewhere on the planet.
"If you apply our findings to humans, then each of us will have
in the order of 60 new mutations that were not present in our
parents. Everything that is genetically possible is being tested in
a very short period," said Indiana University's Michael Lynch.
Max Planck Society: www.mpg.de
mutation - the basic process of evolution - occurs much faster than
previously thought, according to a study published Friday.
The team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for
Molecular Biology in Tuebingen and the University of Indiana
studied genome mutation in a species of cress (Arabidopsis
thaliana), and found that each gene in the plant will mutate on
average once in every 143 million generations.
Genomes are the complete set of genetic information for any
organism, consisting of individual genes found in DNA.
"While the long-term effects of genome mutations are quite well
understood, we did not know how often new mutations arise in the
first place," project leader Detlef Weigel of the Max Planck
Institute said in a press statement.
The discovery means that for many plant species, whose millions
of individual members produce thousands of seeds with each
generation, an entire genome mutation can occur within a relatively
short space of time.
"Evolution reveals itself only after thousands, not millions of
years," Weigel said.
Such a rate of genetic change can explain how species adapt to
changing circumstances quickly, and the study gives the example of
weeds becoming resistant to specific herbicides within just a few
generations.
The team used new methods to track all the genetic changes in
five "lines" (plants with common ancestors) of Arabidopsis thaliana
over 30 generations. In the final generation they searched for
differences to the original plants.
"To ferret out where the genome had changed was only possible
because of new methods that allowed us to screen the entire genome
with high precision and in a very short time," Weigel said.
The team said that the same speed of genetic change could in
theory be expected in human DNA, meaning that with six billion
people on earth each form of human gene would be permanently
mutating somewhere on the planet.
"If you apply our findings to humans, then each of us will have
in the order of 60 new mutations that were not present in our
parents. Everything that is genetically possible is being tested in
a very short period," said Indiana University's Michael Lynch.
Max Planck Society: www.mpg.de
Thanks for that
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