A long-term evolution experiment with Escherichia coli shows that the appearance and optimization of a new trait can require both co-opting existing cellular pathways for new roles and reversing a history of previous adaptation.
A combination of genetics, experimental evolution and mathematical modelling defines information necessary to predict the outcome of short-term adaptive evolution.
Selective forces imposed by the squid animal host drive rapid adaptation of non-native Vibrio fischeri bacteria through convergent mutations of large effect, unmasking preexisting coordinated regulation of symbiosis.
A series of selective events, each improving fitness relative to an immediate predecessor, can result in organisms that are less fit compared to a distant ancestor.
The ability to share resources for the benefit of all members of a group may have driven ancient organisms to evolve from a unicellular to a multicellular state.
Experimental evolution shows that when selection acts on two traits constrained by a trade-off, the direction of phenotypic evolution depends on the environment.
A novel computation tool for microbial community modeling predicts the evolution and diversification of E. coli in laboratory evolution experiments and gives insight into the underlying metabolic processes.
A new opsin receptor is light-sensitive and expressed in a unique type of photoreceptor in a flatworm that encloses over 400 sensory cilia within its cell membrane.
Transposable elements are not reactivated in natural hybrids of the yeast Saccharomyces paradoxus, but their accumulation is genotype-specific and is not predicted by the evolutionary divergence between a hybrid's parents.
