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Category Archives: evolution
Diving into chilly California waters, understanding genomic differentiation and the role of gene transfer in marine cyanophages
At this point, it’s clear: microbes are everywhere, there are a lot of them, and they are important. In fact, they are more abundant, more diverse and older than any other organism we have on this planet. In particular, cyanobacteria … Continue reading
Posted in Coevolution, evolution, genomics, horizontal gene transfer, microbiology, population genetics
Tagged cyanophage, species, virus
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Fungi and the quest for old polyploids
Polyploidy, that curious increase in a species’ number of genomes, is now a well recognized force in the evolutionary history of plants and animals. Those extra genomes are often much more than just extra: having a spare genome or four … Continue reading
At the molecular level, there's more than one way to fly higher
Parallel adaptation is coming into its own lately, as we’re increasingly able to examine the molecular changes underlying similar adaptations in distantly related species. A fundamental prediction of evolutionary theory is that species coping with the same environment should converge … Continue reading
Posted in birds, evolution, mutation, natural history, phylogenetics
Tagged adaptation, hemoglobin
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Still ruffling feathers after all these years: Darwin's finches and a molecular view of adaptive radiation
One of the many lovely things about molecular ecology is its ability to shine new light on old stories. The well-known case of Darwin’s finches is a classic example of adaptive radiation. These finches demonstrate a clear instance where over time, … Continue reading
The tarsier's nuclear genome comes with a bonus mitochodrial genome
This week Nature Communications published a paper presenting a new genome assembly for Tarsius syrichta, the Phillipine tarsier. Tarsiers are the subject of one of the best of Ze Frank’s “True Facts” videos, and they occupy an interesting place in … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, genomics, natural history
Tagged genomic insertion, primate, tarsier
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Visualizing the evolution of bacterial resistance
You have probably already seen this. It’s pretty amazing and beautiful and I watched it more than once (although I won’t say how many times….). If by some chance you didn’t catch this fantastic video, don’t fret, I’m here to … Continue reading
Posted in adaptation, evolution, mutation
Tagged antibiotic resistance, E coli, superbug
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Divergence and Linked Background Selection
We have widely discussed the reduction in neutral diversity due to demography and linked selection effects (e.g. selective sweeps and hitchhiking, or background selection) in several previous posts (e.g see here, here, and here). However, how linked selection affects neutral divergence … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, genomics, methods, selection, speciation, theory
Tagged ecological speciation, Evolution, genomics, Homo sapiens, natural selection, population genetics
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The almighty CRISPR-Cas9 technology: The future of conservation?
In the first post on CRISPR-Cas9, I’ve explained how bacteria and archaea create a “database” of infections and use it as a form of prokaryotic immunization. This time, I’m going to concentrate on how biotechnology turns this natural phenomenon into … Continue reading
Posted in conservation, evolution, methods, theory
Tagged conservation, CRISPR, CRISPR-Cas9, gene drive
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