Studying the genomes of mammals with sparse hair covering identifies specific genes and regulatory regions responsible for the formation of hair and skin, some of which were previously unrecognized.
An approach that allows scientists to identify regions of the genome that evolved faster in hairless mammals reveals candidate genetic mechanisms that gave rise to hairlessness.
The comparison of three ciliate species that share complex pathways for natural genome editing allows capture of intermediate states in the acquisition of scrambled genes and elucidating a pathway for the origin and evolution of extremely rearranged chromosomes.
Computed tomography data reveal large and adult-looking inner ears in very young individuals of the long-necked dinosaur Europasaurus holgeri suggesting precociality in this dwarfed island dweller from the Late Jurassic of Germany.
Evolutionary changes in cuticular hydrocarbons, a lipid layer on the insect epicuticle, underlie the evolution of desiccation resistance in Drosophila species.
Honey bee queens adjust the provisioning of their eggs based on their perception of colony size via upregulation of metabolism, protein transport, and cytoskeletal reorganization, including the small GTPase Rho1.
Sofia N Moraes, Jordan T Becker ... Reuben S Harris
The birth of the antiviral gene APOBEC3B in ancient primates is linked to the evolution of a potent counterdefense by herpesviruses, a host-pathogen interaction maintained to present day.
Three-dimensional digital reconstruction shows the temporal and palatal regions of stemward avialans are evolutionarily and functionally conservative, and the mixture of plesiomorphic cranial morphologies together with derived postcranial skeleton manifests the key role of mosaicism in early bird diversification.
