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Category Archives: evolution
Phonemes and Genomes
Human phonemes and genomes are thought to have evolved hand-in-glove out of Africa. Several recent studies have attempted to capture a picture of this global variation in languages and peoples, often supporting (and rejecting) a serial founder model (eg. see … Continue reading
Posted in bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, phylogenetics, population genetics
Tagged data visualization, Evolution, Homo sapiens, population structure
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From crocodiles to coconuts
The first plant trypanosomatids were discovered in plant tissues over 100 years ago, but we know very little about their biology, life cycle or how they have adapted to life inside plants. Jaskowska et al. (2015) provide a review of … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, Coevolution, evolution, genomics, natural history
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Estimating the ticks and tocks of molecular clocks
Like many undergraduate students, I learned about the linear, universal molecular clock: the homogeneous rate of nucleotide change over time. When I sat down to actually do analyses of molecular data, I was confounded by the array of options to treat DNA … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, Molecular Ecology, the journal, mutation, software
Tagged molecular clock
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Sex chromosome evolution … in haploids, that is
In diploid organisms, the rates of mutation and recombination played a pivotal role in the evolution of sex-determining regions and, thus, sex chromosomes. We know quite a bit theoretically and empirically in XY systems in mammals and ZW systems in … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, mutation
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