Mystery of operon evolution probed

Posted August 30th, 2012 by PCC STEM & filed under Biology, News.

New research suggests a possible explanation for the organization of operons, jointly controlled clusters of genes that evolved in bacterial chromosomes. Operons, which are found in the chromosomes of bacteria but not in more advanced organisms, have puzzled biologists since their discovery in the 1960s. The new study suggests operons evolved as a means of reducing "noise" in biochemical signal processing.

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