Sciber

Cool work using information theory to establish upper bounds on information maintenance on organism populations. They "prove a general bound on the rate at which information can accumulate per generation, [finding] that both accumulation and maintenance of information are most efficient (require the least fitness variation per bit) when individual loci experience weak selection. This is relevant for selection on traits influenced by many small-effect loci—a common genetic architecture according to genome-wide association studies." Full paper @ PNAS.

Labels: #evolution, #Genetics, #information, #InformationTheory

"The indigenous Bajau people (“Sea Nomads”) of Southeast Asia live a subsistence lifestyle based on breath-hold diving and are renowned for their extraordinary breath-holding abilities. However, it is unknown whether this has a genetic basis. Using a comparative genomic study, we show that natural selection on genetic variants in the PDE10A gene have increased spleen size in the Bajau, providing them with a larger reservoir of oxygenated red blood cells. We also find evidence of strong selection specific to the Bajau on BDKRB2, a gene affecting the human diving reflex. Thus, the Bajau, and possibly other diving populations, provide a new opportunity to study human adaptation to hypoxia tolerance." Full article @ Cell.

Labels: #Adaptation, #Diving, #Genetics, #Human