Mashaal Sohail, Robert M Maier ... Shamil R Sunyaev
Polygenic selection signals in humans estimated from previously existing GWAS should be viewed with caution due to concerns about residual population stratification.
The exceptionally large size of the human brain is the result of accelerating evolution towards larger brains in hominins, but is not the product of neocortical expansion.
Mohammed Kaplan, Debnath Ghosal ... Grant J Jensen
A correlation between the periplasmic embellishment of the flagellar motor and its stator system type is described, motors with dual H+-dependent stator systems have one periplasmic ring formed by MotY.
Consideration of signal detection theory shows how decision ecology relates to optimal collective decisions, helping explain the prevalence of quorum-sensing in even the simplest collective systems, such as bacterial communities.
Genetic change among enzyme orthologous with similar phenotypic properties can cause substantial differences in evolutionary response to a new enzyme function in terms of their molecular and fitness outcomes.
Paul M Berube, Anna Rasmussen ... Sallie W Chisholm
In the context of an organism's ecology, physiology, and macroevolutionary history, inheritance and gene loss can yield emergent patterns of trait variability that give the appearance of gene acquisition.
A fatty acyl reductase gene family expansion in the Hymenoptera crown group led to recruitment of novel pheromone-biosynthetic enzymes and is linked to evolution of pheromone marking behavior.
UV-reflective dragonfly wax is shown to consist of very long-chain methyl ketones and aldehydes, and a synthetic dragonfly wax spontaneously forms light-scattering fine structures with strong UV reflection.
