Ana Lilia Juárez-Vázquez, Janaka N Edirisinghe ... Francisco Barona-Gómez
An integrated biochemical and evolutionary analysis shows how enzyme specificity evolves after gene loss during genome decay, implicating relaxation of purifying selection as a driving force for functional divergence.
Parallel losses of short-wave light sensitivity in diverse bats occurred through independent changes at multiple steps in the conversion of genotype into functional phenotype, including pre-, during, and post-transcription.
The genomic features associated with a gene fate to loss have been retained for approximately 500 million years during evolution, and the genes with these features exhibit restricted expression profiles, leading to the genes being less important.
Tracing the evolution of an old master sex determination gene reveals a diversity of sex determination transitions, including a complete Y chromosome loss, among an old teleost order (Esociformes).
The synthesis capability of some amino acids is lost during the insect evolution, and hymenopteran parasitoids can make up for these deficiencies by altering free amino acid concentrations in host.
The phosphate starvation response network in a commensal yeast evolved to expand its downstream targets via changes in the main transcription factor's dependence on its co-activator, potentially altering the physiological response.
Bram van Dijk, Paulien Hogeweg ... Nobuto Takeuchi
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) helps slightly beneficial genes persist in microbial populations, incentivising cells to invest in costly DNA uptake, even in the presence of harmful selfish genetic elements.
Mathias Scharmann, Anthony G Rebelo, John R Pannell
In the dioecious plant genus Leucadendron, shifts to sex-biased gene expression occurred predominantly in genes with ancestrally high rates of expression evolution, and were not correlated with morphology.
The genomes of animal progenitors evolved as mosaics of old, new, rearranged, and repurposed protein domains, genes and pathways and paved the way for the origin and evolution of animals.