Subscribe by email
Join 877 other subscribersMeta
Monthly Archives: December 2014
C.L. Gloger's favorite owl
Biologists love clines. We’ve been mentally masticating on clines for decades. Clines in body size. Clines in color. Clines in heart size! Clines that go in circles! Recognizing clinal patterns in phenotypes or genotypes is fun, but discovering the mechanisms behind … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, Molecular Ecology, the journal, population genetics
Tagged ABC, Birds, Clines
Leave a comment
Increase your broader impacts with Data Nuggets
This week we have a special guest post by Elizabeth Schultheis, a PhD candidate at Michigan State University and the Kellogg Biological Station, to describe her Data Nuggets project. Previous guest posts have discussed other great projects happening in the … Continue reading
Identifying and correcting errors in draft genomes
Over the past decade we have seen an exponential increase in the number of sequenced, assembled, and annotated genomes. These these genomes are essential for pretty much any genomics research. If you want to sequence the genome, transcriptome, epigenome, or … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Et tu, Brute? Black-legged ticks use genes co-opted from bacteria to fight bacterial infection
Horizontal gene transfer occurs when genes are passed between individuals by mechanisms other than reproduction. It is common in bacteria and occasionally happens between highly divergent groups (for example, monocot genes transferred to eudicots, fungal genes transferred to aphids, bacterial genes transferred … Continue reading
Week in review, 6 December 2014
It’s been a busy week at *The Molecular Ecologist! Here’s a roundup of our latest posts:* Melissa pointed out a study of compensatory evolution in yeast, in which natural selection found a way around the loss of many different genes. … Continue reading
Posted in linkfest
Leave a comment
Exotic gene flow surveillance
Exotic forest plantations often cover large areas and, as such, may contribute female gametes, male gametes and/or zygotes to native stands. In seed plants, these three components of exotic gene flow have not been distinguished, though they will have different … Continue reading
The Evolution of Recombination
In a recent publication, Lesecque et al (2014). provide key evidence that fills in some of the blanks to an age old question – how do recombination hotspots evolve? Their analyses of major PRDM9 (a polymorphic zinc finger protein with … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, genomics, mutation, population genetics, theory
Tagged Evolution, recombination
2 Comments
Isolation by environment explains why the grass isn't always greener
Ever since Sewall Wright introduced isolation by distance in 1943, the interplay between genetic differentiation and geographic distance has been a foundational, sometimes frustrating, aspect of population genetics studies. But distance isn’t just distance. The walk to my car isn’t any longer when … Continue reading
The genetics of another multi-level society
Long-time readers (i.e., “for more than one week”) of The Molecular Ecologist will notice that this is the 2nd post on the socio-genetics of a primate multi-level society. The first being Melissa’s post last week that covered my recent paper … Continue reading