For many bacterial species, recombination dominates genome evolution and phylogenetic patterns that have so far been assumed to reflect clonal relationships, in fact reflect variation in recombination rates across lineages.
Distinct selective landscapes in mosquito and human cells shape dengue virus genetic diversity and highlight mechanisms of host adaptation in arboviruses.
Grant Kinsler, Kerry Geiler-Samerotte, Dmitri A Petrov
A set of adaptive mutations affect only a small number of phenotypes that matter in the evolution condition, and yet contain substantial latent functional diversity revealed in distant environments.
Leaf-cutting ants use their fecal fluid to vector enzymes produced by their fungal symbiont to degrade plant biomass with a combination of degradation enzymes and Fenton chemistry.
Dramatic phenotypic divergence of crustacean mushroom bodies map to phylogenetic lineages, thereby offering unexplored opportunities for relating divergent cognitive centers to different ecologies and behavioral repertoires required to negotiate them.
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).
Simon Tragust, Claudia Herrmann ... Heike Feldhaar
Poison acidified crops sanitize food and limit disease transmission while at the same time structuring the gut microbiota and thus contribute to the ecological and evolutionary success of formicine ants.
Florian Mattenberger, Victor Latorre ... Ron Geller
Comprehensive analyses of how mutations in a picornavirus capsid affect viral fitness provide novel insights into viral biology, evolution, and host interactions.
Phylogenetic and computational methods reveal that at least two seasonal coronaviruses are evolving adaptively in the region of the viral spike protein exposed to the human humoral immune system.
Out breeding depression in Caenorhabditis tropicalis is due to common maternal-offspring incompatibilities that interact with a highly heterogeneous genetic background and may provide a short-term advantage to inbreeding.
