Arizona State researchers report in Science that larger dogs lose DNA methylation at transposable elements faster with age, in a study of nearly 900 dogs. The pattern tracks the size-lifespan trade-off, but nobody has yet tested whether the elements then jump more and shorten lives.
Perspective Coverage
5 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 54%
- Operator
- Operator 27%
- Investor
- Investor 19%
Reality
- Evidence60
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives35
- Confidence62
Fragments of a human brain-active gene turned up inside a poxvirus genome
Researchers report in Science that two fragments of the human gene BC200 sit inside molluscum contagiosum virus, a poxvirus that only infects people. The sequences arrived in two separate transfers, and what they do inside the virus is still unknown.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence50
Cornell biologists find a human brain gene that kept its ability to jump around the genome
Cornell researchers report that BC200, a gene that appears to work in human neurons, can still jump around the genome, the first human gene seen doing both. The team found it through a copy lodged in a human poxvirus, apparently picked up from infected human cells.
Reality
- Evidence40
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives50
- Confidence45
Human neuron gene BC200 left two copies of itself in a wart virus about 100,000 years ago
Cornell scientists report in Science that BC200, an RNA gene abundant in human neurons, jumped twice into a poxvirus about 100,000 years ago. The team says it is the first human gene seen both moving and in cellular use, though what it does in neurons is still poorly understood.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence50
Mobile DNA that copies itself through RNA fills nearly half the human genome
A Quanta survey traces jumping genes from Barbara McClintock's speckled corn kernels to the retrovirus-like sequences that make up much of the human genome. It treats host and transposon as long-term coevolutionary partners.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+12
- Incentives18
- Confidence68