Genome complexity: corals filter new mutations (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, March 10, 2023, 19:54 (414 days ago) @ David Turell

Keep the good, filter out the bad:

https://phys.org/news/2023-03-youre-stuck-genome-corals.html

"Some corals live to be hundreds, and even thousands, of years old. They were born with genes that were successful back in their parent's generation, so how can these old corals still be successful now? Especially in a changing climate? It's possible that the generation and the filtering of mutations that occur in different parts of a big coral act as a proving ground for adaptive genetics for the future.

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"Nearly every animal must make a living with a set of genes that remains virtually unchanged during their lifetime, but a recent study of tropical reef building corals shows something different. These very long-lived animals are constantly changing and testing their genes—and some of these changes make it into the next generation. In this way a centuries-old coral might be a cauldron of genetic innovation, and it might help prepare them for climate change.

***

"The López-Nandam study found that the mutations that made it into the next coral generation had far fewer protein changes. This means that the corals were somehow filtering out the most likely deleterious mutations, and passing on changes that did not hurt the coral cells or that potentially benefited them.

"Overall, this study agrees with previous studies that found mutations in the tissues of large, long-lived corals are evolutionarily important. These mutations can add to the genetic diversity of coral populations and increase their ability to adapt to new conditions. In most animals this process also happens when offspring inherit new mutations that happen in the eggs and sperm of their parents, but takes many generations.

"The López-Nandam study goes a step further and shows that this adaptive process can happen within a single coral colony in a single generation—mutations are filtered to remove the harmful ones, potentially giving rise to patches of coral with new adaptive alleles…maybe even new mutations that can help counteract some of the stresses of climate-induced heat waves."

Comment: a different form of editing than in bacteria. Actively screening new mutations that serendipitously pop up.