Category Archives: evolution

Plastic and evolved responses to host fruit in apple maggot flies

Posted on 13 Apr, 2015 by Melissa DeBiasse

The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, is a prominent system for the study of sympatric speciation. Sister taxa in the R. pomonella species complex, the apple-infesting race of R. pomonella and the snowberry-infesting R. zephyria, have sympatric distributions and the fruiting time of their preferred hosts widely overlaps. … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, speciation, transcriptomics | Leave a comment

Gorillas (genomes) in the mist

Posted on 10 Apr, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Mountain gorillas are an endangered great ape subspecies that number around 800 individuals, inhabiting mountain ranges in central Africa. They have been the subject of numerous field studies, but few genetic analyses have been carried out. Xue et al. (2015) sequenced … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, conservation, evolution, genomics, natural history, next generation sequencing, primates | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

d(N)eutralist < d(S)electionist Part 4

Posted on 2 Apr, 2015 by Arun Sethuraman

Continuing our discussion of the neutralist-selectionist debate, recent findings by Schrider et al. (2015) bring us to the topic of selective sweeps, and their genomic signatures in a population. As we have discussed in previous posts, numerous studies (since the … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, mutation, population genetics, selection, theory | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Haploid-diploidy, a (brief?) history

Posted on 20 Mar, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

Haploid-diploid life cycles are not only good exercise for the brain, but they’re also fantastic study systems to investigate a myriad of questions. Yet, the majority of molecular studies have focused on the diploid-dominated life cycles of animal and plant … Continue reading →

Posted in DNA barcoding, domestication, evolution, genomics, haploid-diploid, natural history, population genetics, selection, speciation | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

dN(eutralist) = dS(electionist) Part 3

Posted on 19 Mar, 2015 by Arun Sethuraman

In a previous post, I discussed the phenomenon of background selection, which results in rapid expungement of neutral alleles linked to loci under purifying or negative selection, and conversely, the rapid fixation of neutral variants that are linked to loci of … Continue reading →

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To sequence a genome or not to sequence a genome, that is the question

Posted on 16 Mar, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

In a paper out last month in the Journal of Phycology, Bhattacharya et al. (2015) provide a perspective on the need for more algal genomes. [A] relevant question on the minds of many phycologists might be: do we really need more algal … Continue reading →

Posted in bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, horizontal gene transfer, mutation, next generation sequencing, selection | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mating systems

Posted on 13 Mar, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

In a new paper, published online in Molecular Ecology, Pannell (2015) reviews the literature on the evolution of mating systems and dispersal in colonizing species as component of a special issue called Invasion Genetics: The Baker and Stebbins Legacy.  This issue is … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, Coevolution, conferences, evolution, Molecular Ecology, the journal, selection | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

dN(eutralist) > dS(electionist)? Part 2

Posted on 5 Mar, 2015 by Arun Sethuraman

Last week’s post dealt with the debate over differences in the efficacy of purifying selection across human genomes. This week, we’ll look at the differences in de novo mutation rates across populations. The human de novo mutation rate has gone … Continue reading →

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Sometimes selection gives you more bang for your buck

Posted on 2 Mar, 2015 by Melissa DeBiasse

Most species experience many environmental stressors simultaneously which means the direction and magnitude of evolutionary responses will depend on trade-offs between traits whose relationship may prevent them from being simultaneously optimized. Multiple sources of stress may act in opposing ways, for … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, evolution, proteomics | Leave a comment

Just like an elephant and a manatee …

Posted on 27 Feb, 2015 by Stacy Krueger-Hadfield

There is a positive correlation between the time since two lineages have diverged and the strength of the reproductive barriers between them. Rothfels et al. (2015) have described a natural hybridization event between two fern genera that diverged from one … Continue reading →

Posted in Coevolution, evolution, natural history, speciation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment