Big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence - whatever you want to call it - is moving so fast, and making predictions so unexpected, that it's almost making us look stupid. But we're not. That's how science is supposed to work.
Image credit: Copy of Ernst Haeckel's 1886 Tree of Life by Paul D Stewart
New research shows gene exchange between viruses and hosts drives evolution
Jan 2022, phys.org
First a reminder of how complicated this all is:
"The first comprehensive analysis of viral horizontal gene transfer..."HGT allows genes to jump between species including viruses and their hosts. If the gene does something useful, it can sweep through the population and become a feature of that species. This can lead to a rapid emergence of new abilities, as opposed to the more incremental changes that result from smaller mutations.
via University of British Columbia: Nicholas A. T. Irwin et al, Systematic evaluation of horizontal gene transfer between eukaryotes and viruses, Nature Microbiology (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-021-01026-3
Study finds new patterns of antibiotic resistance spread in hospitals
Apr 2022, phys.org
What's really happening is so much more complicated that we thought. You think you know, but you have no idea:
The findings suggest that specific genes, rather than entire organisms, were circulating in hospitals—in some cases, for many years. Notably, the team discovered antibiotic resistance gene transfer between bacteria, connecting patient infections in new ways and also helping to explain the large diversity of CRE species and strains in these hospitals. Typically, hospitals would not connect outbreaks of different CRE species such as E. coli and Klebsiella, but the research team says that information from Salamzade's tool could make hospitals more aware of potential hospital reservoirs for gene exchange and inform epidemiological investigations into antibiotic resistant infections."Hospital epidemiology would never find this with more traditional methods," said Earl. "I would argue that this is the kind of thing even our standard genomics approaches wouldn't find. It really took having a hypothesis, building up an approach to allow us to test that hypothesis in a really rigorous way, and then stepping back to look at the data."
via Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard: Rauf Salamzade et al, Inter-species geographic signatures for tracing horizontal gene transfer and long-term persistence of carbapenem resistance, Genome Medicine (2022). DOI: 10.1186/s13073-022-01040-y
Researchers adapt social network analysis to model virus evolution
May 2022, phys.org
Even basic assumptions are wrong:
New research from Western University suggests some viruses evolve more like a dynamic social network—rather than a rigid tree, as was previously believed—recombining with one another to create a web of intersecting subtypes.
via University of Western Ontario: Abayomi S. Olabode et al, Revisiting the recombinant history of HIV-1 group M with dynamic network community detection, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2108815119
New research shows gene exchange between viruses and hosts drives evolution
Jan 2022, phys.org
Just a reminder of how complicated this all is:
"The first comprehensive analysis of viral horizontal gene transfer..."HGT allows genes to jump between species including viruses and their hosts. If the gene does something useful, it can sweep through the population and become a feature of that species. This can lead to a rapid emergence of new abilities, as opposed to the more incremental changes that result from smaller mutations.
via University of British Columbia: Nicholas A. T. Irwin et al, Systematic evaluation of horizontal gene transfer between eukaryotes and viruses, Nature Microbiology (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-021-01026-3
Mostly unrelated posts, just highlighting the scientific method hard at work:
Counting bug splats on vehicle license plates shows numbers of flying insects has dropped significantly
May 2022, phys.org
Participants were asked to clean their license plates before heading out on a journey in their vehicle and then to photograph and count the number of bugs they found splattered on the plates when they returned.The researchers found the number of splats recorded dropped dramatically over the course of the study—total numbers were 58.5% lower at the end of the study than at the beginning (2004 - 2021).
via Kent Wildlife Trust: The Bugs Matter Citizen Science Survey
Self-eliminating genes tested on mosquitoes
May 2022, phys.org
Temporary, self-deleting genetic changes that don't permanently alter wild populations' genetic makeup
via Texas A&M University: Keun Chae et al, Engineering a self-eliminating transgene in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, PNAS Nexus (2022). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac037
Post Script:
I'm not sure what to call it, but I'm seeing a pattern emerge, maybe a new category of headlines, something about the unforeseen implications of the climate apocalypse?
Lake Mead: Shrinking reservoir reveals more human remains
May 2022, BBC News
Mount Everest: Melting glaciers expose dead bodies
Mar 2019, BBC News
