from the Evolutionary Psychology list, R Stonjek.

"Various species' genes evolve to minimize protein production errors Scientists at Harvard University and the University of Texas at Austin have found that genetic evolution is strongly shaped by genes' efforts to prevent or tolerate errors in protein production.

"Their study also suggests that the cost of errors in protein production may lie in the malformed proteins themselves, rather than the loss of functional proteins. Misfolded proteins can build up in long-lived cells, like neurons, and cause neurodegenerative diseases.

"The work, by D. Allan Drummond at Harvard and Claus O. Wilke at Texas, is described in the July 25 issue of the journal Cell."

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http://www.physorg.com/news136120763.html