1974 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 179-183
Author(s):  
C. L. Mallows

Mycielski and Ulam have introduced three metrics on the set of all members of a species that reproduces by pairwise mating; their discussion concerns only a very orderly society in which the whole population is divided into disjoint generations, with random mating, universal monogamy and exactly two offspring of each mating. Here we discuss another metric, derived from certain probabilistic considerations, that is free of all such restrictions. It does not derive from Mendelian laws.


1902 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 657 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Austin Cannon
Keyword(s):  

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 2902-2906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tapan K. Bera ◽  
Ira Pastan

ABSTRACT Mesothelin is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked glycoprotein highly expressed in mesothelial cells, mesotheliomas, and ovarian cancer, but the biological function(s) of the protein is not known. We have analyzed the expression of the mouse mesothelin gene in different developmental stages and in various adult tissues by Northern hybridization. The 2.5-kb mesothelin transcript was detected in the mRNA of E 7.0, E 15.0, and E 17.0 stages of mouse development. In adult tissues the mesothelin gene was expressed in lung, heart, spleen, liver, kidney, and testis. To directly assess the function of the mesothelin in vivo, we generated mutant mice in which the mesothelin gene was inactivated by replacing it with the neomycin resistance gene. In homozygous mutant mice neither mesothelin mRNA nor the protein product was detected. Null mutant mice were obtained in accordance with Mendelian laws, and both males and females produced offspring normally. No anatomical or histological abnormalities were detected in any tissues where mesothelin was reportedly expressed in wild-type mice. Our results demonstrate that mesothelin function is not essential for growth or reproduction in mice.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan E. Goeckel ◽  
Erianna M. Basgall ◽  
Isabel C. Lewis ◽  
Samantha C. Goetting ◽  
Yao Yan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe bacterial CRISPR/Cas genome editing system has provided a major breakthrough in molecular biology. One use of this technology is within a nuclease-based gene drive. This type of system can install a genetic element within a population at unnatural rates. Combatting of vector-borne diseases carried by metazoans could benefit from a delivery system that bypasses traditional Mendelian laws of segregation. Recently, laboratory studies in fungi, insects, and even mice, have demonstrated successful propagation of CRISPR gene drives and the potential utility of this type of mechanism. However, current gene drives still face challenges including evolved resistance, containment, and the consequences of application in wild populations. In this study, we use an artificial gene drive system in budding yeast to explore mechanisms to modulate nuclease activity of Cas9 through its nucleocytoplasmic localization. We examine non-native nuclear localization sequences on Cas9 fusion proteins in vivo and demonstrate that appended signals can titrate gene drive activity and serve as a potential molecular safeguard.


2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Aceto ◽  
Jens Alsted Hansen ◽  
Anna Ingólfsdóttir ◽  
Jacob Johnsen ◽  
John Knudsen

Consistency checking is a fundamental computational problem in genetics. Given a pedigree and information on the genotypes (of some) of the individuals in it, the aim of consistency checking is to determine whether these data are consistent with the classic Mendelian laws of inheritance. This problem arose originally from the geneticists' need to filter their input data from erroneous information, and is well motivated from both a biological and a sociological viewpoint. This paper shows that consistency checking is NP-complete, even with focus on a single gene and in the presence of three alleles. Several other results on the computational complexity of problems from genetics that are related to consistency checking are also offered. In particular, it is shown that checking the consistency of pedigrees over two alleles, and of pedigrees without loops, can be done in polynomial time.


1939 ◽  
Vol 128 (850) ◽  
pp. 126-137 ◽  

For many years various experiments have been devised in order to find out whether an acquired characteristic can be inherited, but the results on the whole do not appear to have received general scientific sanction. C. P. Martin and Bradford Hill in recent years have both made surveys of this subject, but from different points of view. Martin (1937), in making a survey of the literature on the subject, points out many of the difficulties which confront the experimentalist and indicates possible causes for the apparent discrepancies in results. He also raises the possible existence of a temporary form of inheritance which obeys the Mendelian laws. Hill (1934) reviews a great deal of the work which has been done on the possibility of resistance to bacterial infection being inherited. He points out that much of this work is unconvincing, as it is very difficult in the case of bacterial infections to be quite sure that the offspring of the experimental animals have not been infected to some extent, as well as the parents. The experiments recorded in this paper have resulted from observations made in the course of our work on the propagation of Jensen’s rat sarcoma. This tumour is easily transplanted from one rat to another by subcutaneous inoculation of small grafts, and when a sensitive breed of rat is used the tumour very rarely retrogresses, provided a scrupulous technique is followed (Chambers and Scott 1930). Many years ago we noticed that the offspring of rats in which tumours had disappeared were not so susceptible to the tumour grafts as other rats of the same breed, and it seemed worth while to find out how far this apparently acquired characteristic was transmitted to the offspring. The data now recorded provide evidence in support of the view that this acquired characteristic is transmitted to the offspring to some extent.


F1000Research ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chase F Kempinski ◽  
Samuel V Crowell ◽  
Caleb Smeeth ◽  
Carina Barth

Ascorbic acid is a potent antioxidant that detoxifies reactive oxygen species when plants are exposed to unfavorable environmental conditions. In addition to its antioxidant properties, ascorbic acid and its biosynthetic precursors fulfill a variety of other physiological and molecular functions. A mutation in the ascorbic acid biosynthesis gene VTC1, which encodes GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase, results in conditional root growth inhibition in the presence of ammonium. To isolate suppressors of vtc1-1, which is in the Arabidopsis Columbia-0 background, seeds of the mutant were subjected to ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis. A suppressor mutant of vtc1-1 2, svt2, with wild-type levels of ascorbic acid and root growth similar to the wild type in the presence of ammonium was isolated. Interestingly, svt2 has Arabidopsis Landsberg erecta features, although svt2 is delayed in flowering and has an enlarged morphology. Moreover, the svt2 genotype shares similarities with Ler polymorphism markers and sequences, despite the fact that the mutant derived from mutagenesis of Col-0 vtc1-1 seed. We provide evidence that svt2 is not an artifact of the experiment, a contamination of Ler seed, or a result of outcrossing of the svt2 mutant with Ler pollen. Instead, our results show that svt2 exhibits transgenerational genotypic and phenotypic instability, which is manifested in a fraction of svt2 progeny, producing revertants that have Col-like phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. Some of those Col-like revertants then revert back to svt2-like plants in the subsequent generation. Our findings have important implications for undiscovered phenomena in transmitting genetic information in addition to the Mendelian laws of inheritance. Our results suggest that stress can trigger a genome restoration mechanism that could be advantageous for plants to survive environmental changes for which the ancestral genes were better adapted.


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