The human genome is stuffed full of ancient retrovirus genomes, a heritable legacy of ancestral infections. These pieces of DNA are dynamic elements, and can hop around the human genome and drive its ongoing diversification. Mostly, though, they are kept subdued by epigenetic changes that prevent...
This problem is known as freeze concentration and can cause significant stress on the stability of proteins. Although the exact mechanism of ice-induced protein denaturation is not fully understood we do know that changes in the physical environment of the protein lead to stresses that can impact ...