Researchers Show Nature Conserves Its Most Vital DNA by Multitasking

In a study published in the advanced online edition of Molecular Biology and Evolution, Professor Claudio Alonso and colleagues at the University of Sussex (UK) investigated these treasured genomic keepsakes, called ultraconserved elements (UCEs), which have been found to span the tree of life, from plants to yeast to mice to humans. They used the trusted fruit fly model Drosophila melanogaster together with other species where they applied a variety of bioinformatics tools to get at the heart of this poorly understood phenomenon.