Meiosis in perspective

Our understanding of meiosis springs from two suggestions made by Weismann in 1887. One was that meiosis would be found to compensate for fertilization in the life cycles of both sexes and all organisms. The other was that the development of sexual reproduction in evolution depended on the value of meiosis in exposing the results of genetic recombination to natural selection. In confirming these propositions we were bound to discover that the properties of meiosis appear both as the causes and the consequences of evolution: it is the hinge on which turns the evolution of breeding method, reproductive habit, life cycle and hereditary structure, that is the genetic system, in all sexually reproducing species of organism. We have had three main fields of attack on our problem. First, there was the natural variation of meiosis including that of two-track heredity within the species: here, animals took the lead. Secondly, there was the experimental field - both with genetic controls such as polyploidy and the sterilizing mutations of mitosis as well as meiosis, and with physical and chemical controls : here, the higher plants and microorganisms have given us our great opportunities. Thirdly, we have the widening field where physicochemical knowledge and genetic control converge and collaborate. In all this work we have to be aware that meiosis works with chromosomes which always have the two functions of accomplishing evolution and of implementing its results in heredity. In consequence, the adaptation of meiosis is perpetually imperfect.

1963 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-21
Author(s):  
Merrill H. Sweet

In the course of current work upon the biology and ecology of the Rhyparochrominae of New England, a new species of Ligyrocoris was discovered. The species runs in Barber's (1921) key to the couplet separating diffusus (Uhler) from sylvestris (L.), but is distinct from either species. While the new species is closely related to these species, it is also quite close to L. depictus which is separated out in a different part of Barber's key.These four closely related species are sympatric in New England, although they are markedly different in their overall distribution. The habitat preferences and life cycles of the species are quite different (Sweet, unpublished). The habitat of the new species described below is most unusual for the genus. The greater part of the type series was collected along the margin of a small pond where sedge clumps were standing in the water among occasional exposed rocks rather than in relatively dry fields or slope habitats where the other species occur. The species feeds upon the seeds of the sedge, Carex stricta Lam, and its life cycle is apparently adapted to that of the sedge, which fruits in late May and June. The insect becomes adult in mid-June and lays eggs until mid-July. The eggs remain in diapause over the summer and winter and hatch in May.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Purchase ◽  
Jonathan Evans ◽  
Julissa Roncal

An alternation between diploid and haploid phases is universal among sexual eukaryotes. Across this biphasic cycle, natural selection and sexual selection occur in both phases. Together, these four stages of selection act on the phenotypes of individuals and influence the evolutionary trajectories of populations, but are rarely studied holistically. Here, we provide a conceptual framework that transcends taxonomic groups, and unifies the entire selection landscape within and across the diploid and haploid phases. Our synthesis produces six direct links among four selection stages, and from this we define four types of parental effect. We argue that knowledge of the complex and intertwined opportunities for selection within biphasic life cycles will offer clearer insights into key ecological and evolutionary processes, with benefits to applied science.


Genetics ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-650
Author(s):  
Satoshi Harashima ◽  
Yasuhisa Nogi ◽  
Yasuji Oshima

ABSTRACT There are four types of life cycles in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and its related species. A perfect homothallic life cycle (the Ho type) is observed in the classic D strain. Two other types show semi-homothallism; one of them shows a 2-homothallic diploid:2α heterothallic haploid segregation (the Hp type) and another, a 2-homothallic:2a segregation (the Hq type). In the segregants from these Ho, Hp, and Hq diploids, each homothallic segregant shows the same segregation pattern as its parental diploid. The fourth type has a heterothallic life cycle showing a 2a:2α segregation and the diploids are produced by the fusion of two haploid cells of opposite mating types. The diploids prepared by the crosses of α Hp (an α haploid segregant from the Hp diploid) to a Hq (an a haploid from the Hq diploid) segregated two types (Type I and II) of the Ho type homothallic clone among their meiotic segregants. Genetic analyses were performed to investigate this phenomenon and the genotypes of the Ho type homothallic clones of Type I and Type II. Results of these genetic analyses have been most adequately explained by postulating three kinds of homothallic genes, each consisting of a single pair of alleles, HO/ho, HMα/hmα, and HMa/hma, respectively. One of them, the HMα locus, was proved to be loosely linked (64 stranes) to the mating-type locus. A spore having the HO hmα hma genotype gives rise to an Ho type homothallic diploid (Type I), the same as in the case of the D strain which has the HO HMα HMa genotype (Type II). A spore having the a HO hmα HMa or α HO HMα hma genotype will produce an Hp or Hq type homothallic diploid culture, respectively. The other genotypes, a HO HMα hma, α HO hmα HMa, and the genotypes combined with the ho allele give a heterothallic character to the spore culture. A possible molecular hypothesis for the mating-type differentiation with the controlling elements produced by the HMα and HMa genes is proposed.


1957 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Chaplin

Two soil organisms, Arthrobacter pascens and Arthrobacter terregens, the first producing a growth-promoting substance, the "terregens factor", and the second requiring it, pass through a complex morphological life cycle. Two kinds of aged cells are found of which, on transfer to fresh medium, one forms a cystite which 'germinates' and looses free cells from a ruptured tube, the other follows the usual course of 'normal' cell division. The similarity in form to that of the type species Arthrobacter globiforme is quite distinct.


PLoS Genetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. e1009704
Author(s):  
Deborah Charlesworth ◽  
Roberta Bergero ◽  
Chay Graham ◽  
Jim Gardner ◽  
Karen Keegan

The sex chromosome pairs of many species do not undergo genetic recombination, unlike the autosomes. It has been proposed that the suppressed recombination results from natural selection favouring close linkage between sex-determining genes and mutations on this chromosome with advantages in one sex, but disadvantages in the other (these are called sexually antagonistic mutations). No example of such selection leading to suppressed recombination has been described, but populations of the guppy display sexually antagonistic mutations (affecting male coloration), and would be expected to evolve suppressed recombination. In extant close relatives of the guppy, the Y chromosomes have suppressed recombination, and have lost all the genes present on the X (this is called genetic degeneration). However, the guppy Y occasionally recombines with its X, despite carrying sexually antagonistic mutations. We describe evidence that a new Y evolved recently in the guppy, from an X chromosome like that in these relatives, replacing the old, degenerated Y, and explaining why the guppy pair still recombine. The male coloration factors probably arose after the new Y evolved, and have already evolved expression that is confined to males, a different way to avoid the conflict between the sexes.


Parasitology ◽  
1916 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Porter

A fertile source of error in protozoology is to be found in the overlooking of the occurrence of mixed infections in a host. Two organisms, each independent of the other, may happen to coexist in the intestine of an insect or the blood of a vertebrate, the result being that the investigator may confuse stages in the life-cycles of parasites which are not related to each other. This source of error has led to unwarranted generalisations which have impeded scientific progress for years. Two examples at once come to mind—the trouble wrought by Schaudinn in 1904 in confusing the life-cycles of the protozoa found in the little owl, and the impediment put in the way of progress by the omission of certain workers to recognise that Crithidia grayi was not a part of the life-cycle of a trypanosome. The existence of mixed infections was overlooked in each case.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (10) ◽  
pp. 26-35
Author(s):  
E. A. SHUBINA ◽  
◽  
Yu. A. KOMAROVSKY ◽  
A. V. MERKUSHEV ◽  
◽  
...  

The article is devoted to the study of the largest mergers and acquisitions (M&A, “Mergers & Acquisitions”) in Russia for 2017–2019. (the acquired block of shares is not less than 99%). The concept of life cycles of organizations and theoretical aspects of mergers and acquisitions are described. The stages of the life cycle of the merged and reorganized companies, the goals of mergers and acquisitions, depending on the stages of the life cycle are analyzed.


APRIA Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
José Teunissen

In the last few years, it has often been said that the current fashion system is outdated, still operating by a twentieth-century model that celebrates the individualism of the 'star designer'. In I- D, Sarah Mower recently stated that for the last twenty years, fashion has been at a cocktail party and has completely lost any connection with the public and daily life. On the one hand, designers and big brands experience the enormous pressure to produce new collections at an ever higher pace, leaving less room for reflection, contemplation, and innovation. On the other hand, there is the continuous race to produce at even lower costs and implement more rapid life cycles, resulting in disastrous consequences for society and the environment.


Author(s):  
Valeriy S. Gerasimov ◽  
Vladimir I. Ignatov ◽  
Konstantin G. Sovin

According to forecasts for 2022, the number of self-propelled agricultural machinery that will fail will be about 100 thousand units. This will have a significant impact on the overall productivity in the field of agricultural production and will require additional financial costs for effective resource-saving environmental-oriented utilization of agricultural machinery with the maximum recovery of secondary resources in the processing of its components. (Research purpose) The research purpose is considering the main life cycles of machinery, including agricultural, and determining the possibility of obtaining secondary resources in the recycling of components of machinery and equipment. (Materials and methods) The authors found that the establishment of an industry-wide recycling system would allow the reuse of usable and recovered parts obtained from decommissioned equipment, as well as receive additional funding from the sale of secondary resources. The authors have found that for the functioning of the whole system, it is necessary to work with a large amount of data related to the ongoing recycling processes, as well as constantly monitor changes in the state and properties of materials. They also found that the maximum use of digital technology is the only way to combine all these requirements and make the system work. (Results and discussion) The article reviews the key points of the use of life cycle method for equipment, including agricultural, reviews the state of machine and tractor park of agro-industrial complex, shows the possibility of using resource-saving ecologically oriented branch system of recycling of agricultural machinery, as well as the movement of waste and material flows in the processing components of utilized machines. (Conclusion) The article presents recommendations on the possibility of efficient disposal of equipment, including agricultural, with the maximum recovery of secondary resources from recycled waste.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 825-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miku Yabuta ◽  
Jens T Høeg ◽  
Shigeyuki Yamato ◽  
Yoichi Yusa

Abstract Although parasitic castration is widespread among rhizocephalan barnacles, Boschmaella japonica Deichmann & Høeg, 1990 does not completely sterilise the host barnacle Chthamalus challengeri Hoek, 1883. As little information is available on the relationships with the host in “barnacle-infesting parasitic barnacles” (family Chthamalophilidae), we studied the life cycles of both B. japonica and C. challengeri and the effects of the parasite on the host reproduction. Specimens of C. challengeri were collected from an upper intertidal shore at Shirahama, Wakayama, western Japan from April 2017 to September 2018 at 1–3 mo intervals. We recorded the body size, number of eggs, egg volume, and the presence of the parasite for each host. Moreover, settlement and growth of C. challengeri were followed in two fixed quadrats. Chthamalus challengeri brooded from February to June. The prevalence of B. japonica was high (often exceeded 10%) from April to July, and was rarely observed from September to next spring. The life cycle of the parasite matched well with that of the host. The parasite reduced the host’s brooding rate and brood size, to the extent that no hosts brooded in 2018.


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