[ Your Name ]  would like to inform you about this article on
Complexity Digest 2008.44 - 16
http://comdig.unam.mx/index.php?id_issue=2008.44#31486
30-Oct-2008

[ Your Message ]

PDF files of our annual editions are available at
http://www.comdig.de/AnnualEditions.html

A letter from Gottfried Mayer to our readers and friends is at
http://www.comdig.de/GMLetter.html

Mapping A Clan Of Mobile Selfish Genes, Innovations-report
 









Excerpt: Much of human DNA is the genetic equivalent of e-mail spam: short
repeated sequences that have no obvious function other than making more of
themselves. After starting out in our primate ancestors 65 million years ago,
one type of repetitive DNA called an Alu retrotransposon now takes up 10 percent
of our genome, with about one million copies. Roughly every 20th newborn baby
has a new Alu retrotransposon somewhere in its DNA, scientists have estimated.
As mutations gradually blur the features of older Alu elements, some become
unable to make copies of themselves. (...)
Source: Mapping A Clan Of Mobile Selfish Genes[
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/life_sciences/mapping_a_clan_mobile_selfish_genes_120978.html
], Innovations-report, 2008/10/24
Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01yahoo.com

You can discuss this article on Articles Forum
http://comdig.unam.mx/topic.php?id_article=31486