A mobile genetic element provides a selective advantage to host cells by delaying development, including biofilm and spore formation, thereby enabling temporary cheating and extra divisions.
eLife publishes advances in quantitative genetics, including the genetic basis of complex traits, the maintenance of genetic variation, and their roles in evolution.
Integrons deploy a variety of adaptive strategies including excision, shuffling, and duplication of cassettes that foster rapid bacterial adaptation and resistance evolution while protecting the genomic integrity of the host.
Neuropeptide tachykinin signaling acts as master regulator of behavioral specialization in honeybees by differentially modulating worker responsiveness to task-specific stimuli.
Network topology and gene expression patterns in small cell lung cancer reveal two mutually opposing teams of regulators that enable multistability and consequent non-genetic heterogeneity, a clinically unsolved challenge.
The fact that sexual activity/reproduction doubles the lifespan of certain rodent species is most likely linked to critical changes in the regulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal stress axis.
A preregistered survey experiment spanning six disciplines has found weak evidence of bias in favour of authors from high-status countries and institutions.
Tumoral group phenotypic compositions and their relationships with the fitness of individual malignant cells in different ecological contexts represent crucial, previously unexplored dynamics in tumor progression.
The integration of multi-nucleosome configuration data with histone turnover and new chromatin accessibility data by systematically investigated 'regulated on-off-slide' models reveals promoter state transitions regulated by just one assembly process.