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/sci/ - Science & Math

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5533384 No.5533384 [Reply] [Original]

Does evolution happen on a tiny scale inside organisms? I imagine different cells of one tissue which usually have exactly the same DNA randomly mutating, and those with the favourable mutations spreading along the tissue, while the weak once get diminished? Does such a thing occur?

>> No.5533397

Yes, it is called Cancer

>> No.5533452

>>5533397

You mean HIV. Yeah HIV, in vivo, can form distinct groups of subtypes.

>>5533384

While mutations can occur and those mutations be passed along to daughter cells through mitosis, the Hayflick limit prevents any of those mutations from accumulating to form separate populations of genetically distinct cells. Telomerase is expressed in only certain kinds of tissues; most notably being tumor tissue, so >>5533397 is on the right track.

>> No.5533551

Tasman devils have a contagious form of cancer whose cells all share the same DNA, descended from a tumor in a single female.