Author: Arafat Rahman
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Beyond Boundaries: How Our Brain Construct Spatial Maps
When you visit a new city for the first time, you have to roam around for a while to find destination. In a new neighborhood, you often find yourself repeatedly checking Google Maps or asking locals, “Hey, which way is this place?” Instead of reaching your destination, you sometimes lose your way! However, your brain…
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Botanists Uncover Genetic Basis for Color Evolution in Monkeyflowers
Monkeyflowers are a type of plant that comes in a variety of colors, ranging from yellow to pink to deep red-orange. However, some species of monkeyflowers lost their yellow pigment about 5 million years ago. In a recent study published in the scientific journal Science, researchers from the University of Connecticut explain the genetic changes…
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Is there a gene for the “promiscuous” host range in symbiosis?
Root nodule symbiosis is a mutually beneficial relationship between legume plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria called rhizobia. In this process, the legume plant provides the rhizobia with a place to live and access to energy in the form of sugars, while the rhizobia fix nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form that the…
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Gene for Gene vs. Matching Allele (and their variations)
Understanding the host-symbiont relationship has many facets. Often we borrow ideas from host-parasite interaction literature of co-evolution. You can think of host-parasite interaction as a continuous war between two parties where one party is always trying new ways to abuse the ‘host’. On the other hand, the host needs to upgrade itself against those new…