Individual organisms come and go, but, to a certain extent, organisms transcend time through reproducing offspring.
In sexual reproduction, two individuals produce offspring that have genetic characteristics from both parents.
Sexual reproduction introduces new gene combinations in a population.
Reproduction is not a continuous activity and is subject to certain patterns and cycles. Oftentimes these patterns and cycles may be linked to environmental conditions which allow organisms to reproduce effectively.
Cycles and patterns allow organisms to manage the relative expenditure of energy for reproduction and maximize the chances of survival for the resulting offspring.
Researchers have come one step closer to being able to use plants more often as a source for a particular type of medicine.
An important gene has been identified that is involved in the glycosylation process in plants. Glycosylation is a process in which various sugar chains are added to certain proteins.
These sugar chains are important to the development of therapeutic proteins used in medicines.
With this discovery, the researchers are hopeful that they will be able to make adjustments in the glycosylation process to improve the production of therapeutic proteins.
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