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Evolutionary battle scars' identify enhanced antiviral activity

01-24-2008 · EurekAlert!

Rapid evolution of a protein produced by an immunity gene is associated with increased antiviral activity in humans, a finding that suggests evolutionary biology and virology together can accelerate the discovery of viral-defense mechanisms, according to researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. These findings, published Jan. 25 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, present a striking example by which evolutionary studies can directly lead to biomedically important discoveries in the field of infectious diseases.

Keywords: evolutionary, battle, scars, identify, enhanced, antiviral, activity, scar

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Evolutionary 'battle scars' identify enhanced anti-viral activity
01-24-2008 · EurekAlert!
Rapid evolution of a protein produced by an immunity gene is associated with increased anti-viral activity in humans, a finding that suggests evolutionary biology and virology together can accelerate the discovery of viral-defense mechanisms, according to researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
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11-28-2007 · EurekAlert!
Researchers at the National Institute of Aging and Stanford University have used gene arrays to identify genes whose activity changes with age in 16 different mouse tissues. The study, published Nov. 30 in PLoS Genetics, uses a newly available database called AGEMAP to document the process of aging in mice at the molecular level. The work describes how aging affects different tissues in mice, and ultimately could help explain why lifespan is limited to just two years in mice.
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Study explains how pathogens evolve to escape detection
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