life inspired

Evolutionary science has led to many practical applications of genetic evolution but few practical uses of cultural evolution. This is because the entire study of evolution was gene centric for most of the 20th century, relegating the study and application of human cultural change to other disciplines. The formal study of human cultural evolution began in the 1970s and has matured to the point of deriving practical applications. We provide an overview of these developments and examples for the topic areas of complex systems science and engineering, economics and business, mental health and well-being, and global change efforts. Full article: Wilson, David Sloan, et al. "Multilevel cultural evolution: From new theory to practical applications." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120.16 (2023): e2218222120.

Labels: #complexity, #evolution, #MUltilevelSelection

RNA editing is hypothesized to facilitate adaptive evolution via flexibly diversifying the proteome temporally or spatially. However, direct experimental evidence is lacking. This study unveils the functional importance of conserved missense adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing (CME) sites in Fusarium graminearum and provides convincing experimental evidence for the adaptive advantages of two CME sites. The first CME site drives the CME5 gene gaining a new important function in ascus and ascospore formation during evolution. Having an editable A at this site is fitter than an uneditable A or a genomically encoded G. The second CME site in the CME11 gene confers a “heterozygote advantage” during ascosporogenesis, meaning that concurrently expressing both edited and unedited versions is more advantageous than either. Full article: Xin, Kaiyun, et al. "Experimental evidence for the functional importance and adaptive advantage of A-to-I RNA editing in fungi." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120.12 (2023): e2219029120.

Labels: #adaptation, #evolution, #RNA, #RNAEditing