Evolution
- Accuracy of fruit-fly eclosion rhythms evolves by strengthening circadian gating rather than developmental fine-tuning
Summary: Fruit fly populations that have evolved greater accuracy of eclosion rhythms show enhanced gating of their eclosion by circadian clocks but not reduced variation in clock-independent developmental processes.
- Evolution and multiple origins of zona pellucida genes in vertebrates
Summary: Phylogenetic and synteny analyses indicate that the vertebrate zona pellucida (ZP) genes encoding egg coat proteins can be classified into eight subfamilies, and the evolutionary origins of these genes are discussed.
- Extending chemical perturbations of the ubiquitin fitness landscape in a classroom setting reveals new constraints on sequence tolerance
Summary: We organized a project-based course that used deep mutational scanning of ubiquitin to resolve the inconsistencies between tolerance to mutations in laboratory conditions and sequence conservation over evolutionary timescales.
- Symbiosis in the microbial world: from ecology to genome evolution
Summary: At a recent Company of Biologists workshop, evolutionary biologists discussed the major outstanding questions in symbiosis research.
- Apical and basal epitheliomuscular F-actin dynamics during Hydra bud evagination
Summary: Transgenic Lifeact-GFP Hydra polyps provide a powerful system for live imaging of actin dynamics during morphogenesis and development of a simple and ancestral animal model.
- Senescence gives insights into the morphogenetic evolution of anamniotes
Summary: We report the presence of senescent cells in several transient structures in developing amphibian and teleost fish, suggesting novel mechanisms of morphogenesis that appeared early in vertebrate evolution.
- Oviposition preferences for ethanol depend on spatial arrangement and differ dramatically among closely related Drosophila species
Summary: Drosophila species make dramatically different egg-laying decisions depending on ethanol concentration and the distances between options. Surprisingly, we find that the species with the lowest ethanol tolerance prefers ethanol the most.
- Vertically- and horizontally-transmitted memories – the fading boundaries between regeneration and inheritance in planaria
Summary: In this hypothesis paper we re-evaluate canonical ideas about the interaction between developmental, genetic and evolutionary processes through the lens of planaria, an invertebrate model organism which challenges fundamental assumptions regarding reproduction.
- Analysis of coelom development in the sea urchin Holopneustes purpurescens yielding a deuterostome body plan
Summary: A common body plan for echinoderms, chordates and hemichordates resolves the apparent morphological disparity between the pentameral and the bilateral body plans of these major deuterostome phyla.
- Evolution of enlarged body size of coal tits Parus ater in geographic isolation from two larger competitors, the crested tit Parus cristatus and the willow tit Parus montanus, on six Scandinavian islands
Summary: On six widely separated Scandinavian islands, an enlarged food base and intraspecific competition has caused the coal tit Parus ater to evolve morphologically in the direction of two absent competitors.