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July 2022, Issue 1

July 2022, Issue 1 Table of Contents

This Issue

July 2022, Issue 1

The Web of Life

DNA can cross the boundaries between species — or even kingdoms

Greenhouse whitefly - Trialeurodes vaporariorum on the underside of leaves. It is a currently important agricultural pest.

Feature

Horizontal Gene Transfer Happens More Often Than Anyone Thought

Christie Wilcox, PhD | Jul 5, 2022 | 10+ min read

DNA passed to and from all kinds of organisms, even across kingdoms, has helped shape the tree of life, to a large and undisputed degree in microbes and also unexpectedly in multicellular fungi, plants, and animals.

Speaking of Science

Ten Minute Sabbatical

Take a break from the bench to puzzle and peruse

Critic at Large

Tiny diverse scientists are studying the covid-19 virus under a giant microscope. Vaccine development concept

Opinion: Many Clinical Trials Fail to Navigate the Literature

Too often, studies that aim to develop new treatments for patients fail to adequately cite and build upon research that preceded them.

Notebook

Vicuñas <em>(Lama vicugna)</em> run across the plains in San Guillermo National Park, Argentina.

How Mange Remade an Ecosystem

A study traces the effects of a mite outbreak from the earth to the heavens.

Pufferfish Don’t Need Functional Stomach, Inflate Instead

The fish use their stomach to swell up to three times their size. Is this why they can’t use the organ to digest proteins?

Slideshows

Slideshow: Examples of Eukaryotic Horizontal Gene Transfer

Horizontally transferred genes play significant roles in eukaryotic genomes

Infographics

Illustration of a DNA virus sneaking genetic material into a host’s nucleus

Infographic: Possible Mechanisms of Gene Transfer in Eukaryotes

Genetic studies have made it clear that eukaryotic horizontal gene transfer can and does happen. Exactly how, though, remains speculative.

The Literature

Bull Ant Venom Evolved to Make Bites More Painful to Mammals

A peptide found in bull ant venom closely resembles a hormone of its primary predator, triggering hypersensitivity and making subsequent bites even more painful than the ones that came before.

Fusion with Spider Silk Increases Anticancer Protein’s Stability

Scientists found that combining the notoriously flimsy anticancer protein p53 with a domain from a spider silk protein resulted in a more stable hybrid that’s more potent and easier for cells to synthesize.

Foundations

Person in a black, beaked robe (left) and man in a black tunic (right), flanking a red coat of arms

Masking Up, 1619 to Present

Putting on a mask to protect oneself and others against disease is nothing new, nor is resistance to mask-wearing, but mask designs have changed considerably from their first iterations.