Browse our latest Evolutionary Biology articles

A bacterial tRNA gene set rapidly evolves, compensating the loss of one tRNA type by large duplication events that increase the gene copy number of a second, different tRNA type.

A novel, overlapping, putatively functional gene in SARS-CoV-2, ORF3d, is absent from close relatives of SARS-CoV-2 and may have contributed to the biology, emergence, or spread of the virus.

Heterochromatic sequences evolve rapidly, as do ZAD-ZNF genes-encoding proteins involved in heterochromatin functions, explaining why evolutionarily dynamic ZAD-ZNF genes are more likely to be essential in Drosophila.

Selection for undifferentiated multicellularity emerges in an evolutionary cell-based model because a collective of cells performs chemotaxis better than single cells in a noisy environment.

A novel assay to measure 2-micron stability together with a survey of natural variation among Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains reveals novel means by which yeasts can combat the parasitic 2-micron plasmids.

Similar evolutionary pressures on gene expression between human and chimpanzee populations contribute to the observation that inter-individual gene expression variability is similar across genes in these species.

A systematic experimental comparison of prosocial behavior in eight corvid species reveals sex-specific effects of cooperative breeding and colonial nesting, thereby adding important new insights regarding the evolution of prosociality.

Mathematical modeling shows that reproductive specialization is strongly favored in sparse networks of cellular interactions that reflect the morphology of early multicellular organisms, even when benefits of specialization are saturating.

A mathematical model shows how the shape of early multicellular organisms may have helped cells evolve specialized roles.

The Wtf4 antidote protein assembles with the Wtf4 poison protein and promotes the transportation of the assembled proteins to the vacuole for sequestration or destruction.