Sequencing and Analysis of the Hydra Genome
Chapman, Kirkness et al., Nature
An international research collaboration reports their sequencing and analysis of the Hydra magnipapillata genome, and compare it to the genomes of several other organisms. "The Hydra genome has been shaped by bursts of transposable element expansion, horizontal gene transfer, trans-splicing, and simplification of gene structure and gene content that parallel simplification of the Hydra life cycle," the authors write. They team suggests that comparisons of the Hydra genome to the reported sequences of other animals have helped them to elucidate the evolution of several of the organism's characteristics.
Genes Are So Passé
November 29, 2007
What is a "gene?" asks Bora Zivkovic. It used to be a unit of heredity, but is it now a stretch of DNA? Or something else? A new, philosophical article in PLoS One by Evelyn Fox Keller and David Harel delves into the definition of a gene and comes up with an alternative to the concept and word of "gene." They propose "genetic functor" or "genitor" that "is intended to capture the essence of inheritance, but which is both richer and more expressive," they write.
