Evolution
- Yolk-deprived Caenorhabditis elegans secure brood size at the expense of competitive fitness
Many egg-laying species lower fecundity when yolk is in short supply, but not C. elegans. They still produce abundant offspring, yet of decreased quality.
- Branch point strength controls species-specific CAMK2B alternative splicing and regulates LTP
A mechanism that contributes to species-specific alternative splicing leading to increased coding capacity of primate genomes is presented and functionality for CamK2β splicing addressed.
- Convergent evolution and horizontal gene transfer in Arctic Ocean microalgae
The Arctic Ocean stands apart from other oceans. Using multiple genomes and transcriptomes from cultured and environmental sources, we found distinct genetic modifications in Arctic microalgae consistent with biogeographically constrained trait selectivity as an adaptive force in algal evolution.
- Pandemic Vibrio cholerae acquired competitive traits from an environmental Vibrio species
Pandemic-associated Vibrio cholerae interbacterial defense genes were likely acquired through competition with and subsequent gene transfer from the fish pathogen Vibrio anguillarum.
- C-to-U RNA deamination is the driving force accelerating SARS-CoV-2 evolution
The authors propose that the host-mediated C-to-U RNA editing event, which is also affected by the RNA structure, is the driving force that accelerates SARS-CoV-2 mutation and evolution.
- Tandemly repeated NBPF HOR copies (Olduvai triplets): Possible impact on human brain evolution
The human genome, unlike the genomes of other primates, contains tandemly organized higher order NBPF structures that represent a link to the development of their cognitive abilities.
- Molecular insights into high-altitude adaption and acclimatisation of Aporrectodea caliginosa
A megabase genome assembly for Aporrectodea caliginosa is presented with transcriptomic and SNP-based evidence for acclimatisation and adaption to extreme weather conditions found at high altitude.
- Telescoping bimodal latent Dirichlet allocation to identify expression QTLs across tissues
We present telescoping bimodal LDA, a method to identify complex associations across high-dimensional count data, and we show TBLDA’s behavior for expression QTL mapping for bulk RNA-seq data from 10 tissues in the GTEx data.
- Comprehensive evolutionary analysis and nomenclature of plant G3BPs
A thorough phylogenetic analysis of eukaryotic G3BPs (Rasputins) with a focus on plant G3BP proteins, classification into two subfamilies and a proposed systematic nomenclature.
- Evolutionary association of receptor-wide amino acids with G protein–coupling selectivity in aminergic GPCRs
Evolutionary analyses of aminergic G protein–coupled receptors reveal receptor-wide potential determinants of G protein–coupling selectivity.