The Eye of Evolution

Aziz, Muhammad F.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/49066 Copy

Description

Title

The Eye of Evolution

Author(s)

Aziz, Muhammad F.

Contributor(s)

Caetano-Anolles, Gustavo

Issue Date

2014-05

Keyword(s)

Crop Sciences

Abstract

"""His gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth, and flesh. You know of what I speak, Gandalf:a great Eye, lidless, wreathed in flame."" Tolkien The metaphor of Eye of Sauron fits well for a network based phylogenomic research in biological evolution. In our genomics lab of evolutionary biology, Professor Gustavo and I make effort to gaze over a molecular history that spans billions of years to sieve for symbolic patterns and clues promising to resolve the long standing puzzle of origin of life. Using a graph theoretical approach, we tried to dissect how and why biological networks evolve to reach their scale-free properties? Our model network of 6,612 domains, mapped by their evolutionary age attributes, mines how single and multi-domain proteins share domain make-up to make more complex architectures, unraveling the co-option evolutionary processes. A timeline of 169 unique age groups revealed an ancient to recent network topology. Network visualization confirms an hour glass pattern of connectivity by illustrating robust interactions in either the earliest (reddish) or the post-middle age (bluish) domains. That is why you observe the giant flaming eyeball in an icy mold. Dare to wear the ring of scientific wisdom, and the Eye will follow you?"

Type of Resource

• text
• image

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/49066

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Muhammad Fayez Aziz

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