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Speciation and evolutionary genetics

This section considers studies into speciation and the role of inheritance and variation in individuals and among populations in evolution.

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  1. The domestic pig Sus scrofa domesticus originated from the wild boar S. scrofa about 10,000 years ago. During domestication, drastic morphological, physiological, and behavioral changes developed between domestic...

    Authors: Cencen Li, Xiao Wang, Huimin Cai, Yuhua Fu, Yu Luan, Wen Wang, Hui Xiang and Changchun Li
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:87
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  2. The respective role and relative importance of natural selection and gene flow in the process of population divergence has been a central theme in the speciation literature. A previous study presented conclusi...

    Authors: Qingxiang Han, Hiroyuki Higashi, Yuki Mitsui and Hiroaki Setoguchi
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:84
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  3. Many species contain evolutionarily distinct groups that are genetically highly differentiated but morphologically difficult to distinguish (i.e., cryptic species). The presence of cryptic species poses signif...

    Authors: Marie Leys, Irene Keller, Katja Räsänen, Jean-Luc Gattolliat and Christopher T. Robinson
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:77
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  4. Studying patterns of introgression can illuminate the role of hybridization in speciation, and help guide decisions relevant to the conservation of rare taxa. Vipera magnifica and Vipera orlovi are small vipers t...

    Authors: Oleksandr Zinenko, Michael Sovic, Ulrich Joger and H. Lisle Gibbs
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:76
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  5. The genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains five copies of the ESX gene cluster, each encoding a dedicated protein secretion system. These ESX secretion systems have been defined as a novel Type VII secreti...

    Authors: Mae Newton-Foot, Robin Mark Warren, Samantha Leigh Sampson, Paul David van Helden and Nicolaas Claudius Gey van Pittius
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:62
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  6. The Oriental fruit bat genus Cynopterus, with several geographically overlapping species, presents an interesting case study to evaluate the evolutionary significance of coexistence versus isolation. We examined ...

    Authors: Balaji Chattopadhyay, Kritika M. Garg, A. K. Vinoth Kumar, D. Paramanantha Swami Doss, Frank E. Rheindt, Sripathi Kandula and Uma Ramakrishnan
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:41
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  8. The Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling pathway constitutes an essential component of the innate immune system. Highly conserved proteins, indicative of their critical roles in host survival, characterize this ...

    Authors: Kwame A. Darfour-Oduro, Hendrik-Jan Megens, Alfred L. Roca, Martien A. M. Groenen and Lawrence B. Schook
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:33
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  9. The variation rate in genomic regions associated with different alleles, impacts to distinct evolutionary patterns involving rare alleles. The rare alleles bias towards genome-wide association studies (GWASs),...

    Authors: Shabana Memon, Xianqing Jia, Longjiang Gu and Xiaohui Zhang
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:25
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  10. The ridges and valleys of the Andes create physical barriers that limit animal dispersal and cause deterministic local variation in rainfall. This has resulted in physical isolation of animal populations and v...

    Authors: Phred M. Benham and Christopher C. Witt
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:22
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  11. During glacial periods, glacial advances caused temperate plant extirpation or retreat into localized warmer areas, and subsequent postglacial glacial retreats resulted in range expansions, which facilitated s...

    Authors: Yue Li, Fumito Tada, Tadashi Yamashiro and Masayuki Maki
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:20
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  12. The ecological differentiation of insects with parasitic life-style is a complex process that may involve phylogenetic constraints as well as morphological and/or behavioural adaptations. In most cases, the re...

    Authors: F. Al khatib, A. Cruaud, L. Fusu, G. Genson, J.-Y. Rasplus, N. Ris and G. Delvare
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:13
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  15. Evolutionary studies of genes that mediate recognition between sperm and egg contribute to our understanding of reproductive isolation and speciation. Surface receptors involved in fertilization are targets of...

    Authors: Agnieszka P. Lipinska, Els J. M. Van Damme and Olivier De Clerck
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:5
    Content type: Research Article Published on:

  16. Pleistocene climatic oscillations and historical geological events may both influence current patterns of genetic variation, and the species in southern China that faced unique climatic and topographical event...

    Authors: Jun Li, Mian Zhao, Shichao Wei, Zhenhua Luo and Hua Wu
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:289
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  17. Proteins in the Glycoside Hydrolase family 32 (GH32) are carbohydrate-active enzymes known as invertases that hydrolyse the glycosidic bonds of complex saccharides. Fungi rely on these enzymes to gain access t...

    Authors: M. A. Van der Nest, E. T. Steenkamp, A. R. McTaggart, C. Trollip, T. Godlonton, E. Sauerman, D. Roodt, K. Naidoo, M. P. A. Coetzee, P. M. Wilken, M. J. Wingfield and B. D. Wingfield
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:273
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  18. Leptomonas is monogenetic kinetoplastid parasite of insects and is primitive in comparison to Leishmania. Comparative studies of these two kinetoplastid may share light on the evolutio...

    Authors: Indira Singh Chauhan, Jaspreet Kaur, Shagun Krishna, Arpita Ghosh, Prashant Singh, Mohammad Imran Siddiqi and Neeloo Singh
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:261
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  19. Loaches of the family Nemacheilidae are one of the most speciose elements of Palearctic freshwater ichthyofauna and have undergone rapid ecological adaptations and colonizations. Their cytotaxonomy is largely ...

    Authors: Alexandr Sember, Jörg Bohlen, Vendula Šlechtová, Marie Altmanová, Radka Symonová and Petr Ráb
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:251
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  20. The interaction between viruses and their receptors in the host can be expected to lead to an evolutionary arms race resulting in cycles of rapid adaptations. We focus here on the receptor gene Xpr1 (xenotropic a...

    Authors: Natascha Hasenkamp, Terry Solomon and Diethard Tautz
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:248
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  21. Major factors influencing the phenotypic diversity of a lineage can be recognized by characterizing the extent and mode of trait evolution between related species. Here, we compared the evolutionary dynamics o...

    Authors: Martha Liliana Serrano-Serrano, Mathieu Perret, Maïté Guignard, Alain Chautems, Daniele Silvestro and Nicolas Salamin
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:247
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  22. The accurate delimitation of species is essential to numerous areas of biological research. An unbiased assessment of the diversity, including the cryptic diversity, is of particular importance for the below g...

    Authors: Iwona Giska, Pierfrancesco Sechi and Wiesław Babik
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:217
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  23. Three NBS-LRR genes, Rpi-blb2, Mi-1.2, and Cami, constitute a very special plant resistance gene family. These genes confer resistance against 4 distantly related pathogen species in 3 different Solanaceae hosts....

    Authors: Lina Zhao, Qijun Zhang, Rongchao Gao, Sihai Yang, Haoxuan Liu and Xiaohui Zhang
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:215
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  24. Maternally inherited Wolbachia bacteria infect many insect species. They can also be transferred horizontally into uninfected host lineages. A Wolbachia spillover from an infected source population must occur pri...

    Authors: Jennifer L. Morrow, Marianne Frommer, Jane E. Royer, Deborah C. A. Shearman and Markus Riegler
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:202
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  26. Hybridization and introgression are said to occur relatively frequently in plants, and in particular among different species of willows. However, data on the actual frequency of natural hybridization and intro...

    Authors: Johan Fogelqvist, Alla V. Verkhozina, Alexander I. Katyshev, Pascal Pucholt, Christina Dixelius, Ann Christin Rönnberg-Wästljung, Martin Lascoux and Sofia Berlin
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:193
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  27. The mechanistic basis of speciation and in particular the contribution of behaviour to the completion of the speciation process is often contentious. Contact zones between related taxa provide a situation wher...

    Authors: Mathias Beysard, Rebecca Krebs-Wheaton and Gerald Heckel
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:170
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  28. Life history traits like developmental time, age and size at maturity are directly related to fitness in all organisms and play a major role in adaptive evolution and speciation processes. Comparative genomic ...

    Authors: Barbara Feldmeyer, Bastian Greshake, Elisabeth Funke, Ingo Ebersberger and Markus Pfenninger
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:164
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  29. Polyploidisation is one of the most important mechanisms in the evolution of angiosperms. As in many other genera, formation of polyploids has significantly contributed to diversification and radiation of Knautia

    Authors: Božo Frajman, Ivana Rešetnik, Hanna Weiss-Schneeweiss, Friedrich Ehrendorfer and Peter Schönswetter
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2015 15:140
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  30. Crop diversity managed by smallholder farmers in traditional agrosystems is the outcome of historical and current processes interacting at various spatial scales, and influenced by factors such as farming prac...

    Authors: Ali Sahri, Lamyae Chentoufi, Mustapha Arbaoui, Morgane Ardisson, Loubna Belqadi, Ahmed Birouk, Pierre Roumet and Marie-Hélène Muller
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:264
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  31. Allopatric divergence across lineages can lead to post-zygotic reproductive isolation upon secondary contact and disrupt coevolution between mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, promoting emergence of genetic in...

    Authors: Alice Saunier, Pascale Garcia, Vanessa Becquet, Nathalie Marsaud, Frédéric Escudié and Eric Pante
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:259
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  32. The genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC/MH) have attracted considerable scientific interest due to their exceptional levels of variability and important function as part of the adaptive immune s...

    Authors: Anthony B Wilson, Camilla M Whittington and Angela Bahr
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:273
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  33. The donkey (Equus asinus) is an important domestic animal that provides a reliable source of protein and method of transportation for many human populations. However, the process of domestication and the dispersa...

    Authors: Lu Han, Songbiao Zhu, Chao Ning, Dawei Cai, Kai Wang, Quanjia Chen, Songmei Hu, Junkai Yang, Jing Shao, Hong Zhu and Hui Zhou
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:246
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  35. Mitochondrial DNA markers have long been used to identify population boundaries and are now a standard tool in conservation biology. In elasmobranchs, evolutionary rates of mitochondrial genes are low and vari...

    Authors: Pierre Feutry, Peter M Kyne, Richard D Pillans, Xiao Chen, Gavin JP Naylor and Peter M Grewe
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:232
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  36. Hybridization provides a unique perspective into the ecological, genetic and behavioral context of speciation. Hybridization is common in birds, but has not yet been reported among bird species with a simultan...

    Authors: Matthew J Miller, Sara E Lipshutz, Neal G Smith and Eldredge Bermingham
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:227
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  37. African wildlife experienced a reduction in population size and geographical distribution over the last millennium, particularly since the 19th century as a result of human demographic expansion, wildlife overexp...

    Authors: Nathalie Smitz, Daniel Cornélis, Philippe Chardonnet, Alexandre Caron, Michel de Garine-Wichatitsky, Ferran Jori, Alice Mouton, Alice Latinne, Lise-Marie Pigneur, Mario Melletti, Kimberly L Kanapeckas, Jonathan Marescaux, Carlos Lopes Pereira and Johan Michaux
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:203
    Content type: Research article Published on:

    The Erratum to this article has been published in BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016 16:17

  38. Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a neoplastic disease characterized by cutaneous tumours that has been documented to infect all sea turtle species. Chelonid fibropapilloma-associated herpesvirus (CFPHV) is believed...

    Authors: Alonzo Alfaro-Núñez, Mads Frost Bertelsen, Anders Miki Bojesen, Isabel Rasmussen, Lisandra Zepeda-Mendoza, Morten Tange Olsen and Marcus Thomas Pius Gilbert
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:206
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  40. Archaeology reports millenary cultural contacts between Peruvian Coast-Andes and the Amazon Yunga, a rainforest transitional region between Andes and Lower Amazonia. To clarify the relationships between cultur...

    Authors: Marilia O Scliar, Mateus H Gouveia, Andrea Benazzo, Silvia Ghirotto, Nelson JR Fagundes, Thiago P Leal, Wagner CS Magalhães, Latife Pereira, Maira R Rodrigues, Giordano B Soares-Souza, Lilia Cabrera, Douglas E Berg, Robert H Gilman, Giorgio Bertorelle and Eduardo Tarazona-Santos
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:174
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  41. The phylogenetic history of genes underlying phenotypic diversity can offer insight into the evolutionary origin of adaptive traits. This is especially true where single genes have large phenotypic effects, fo...

    Authors: Martin J Thompson, Martijn JTN Timmermans, Chris D Jiggins and Alfried P Vogler
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:140
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  42. Gene flow plays an important role in domestication history of domesticated species. However, little is known about the demographic history of domesticated silkworm involving gene flow with its wild relative.

    Authors: Shao-Yu Yang, Min-Jin Han, Li-Fang Kang, Zi-Wen Li, Yi-Hong Shen and Ze Zhang
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:185
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  43. Pathogens are a major regulatory force for host populations, especially under stressful conditions. Elevated temperatures may enhance the development of pathogens, increase the number of transmission stages, a...

    Authors: Franziska M Schade, Lisa NS Shama and K Mathias Wegner
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:164
    Content type: Research Published on:

  44. The moss Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) Bruch & Schimp. is an important experimental model system for evolutionary-developmental studies. In order to shed light on the evolutionary history of Physcomitrella and re...

    Authors: Anna K Beike, Mark von Stackelberg, Mareike Schallenberg-Rüdinger, Sebastian T Hanke, Marie Follo, Dietmar Quandt, Stuart F McDaniel, Ralf Reski, Benito C Tan and Stefan A Rensing
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:158
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  45. Hybrid zones formed by the secondary contact of divergent lineages represent natural laboratories for studying the genetic basis of speciation. Here we tested for patterns of differential introgression among t...

    Authors: Xiuguang Mao, Guangjian Zhu, Libiao Zhang, Shuyi Zhang and Stephen J Rossiter
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:154
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  46. The two North Atlantic eel species, the European and the American eel, represent an ideal system in which to study parallel selection patterns due to their sister species status and the presence of ongoing gen...

    Authors: Malene G Ulrik, José Martín Pujolar, Anne-Laure Ferchaud, Magnus W Jacobsen, Thomas D Als, Pierre Alexandre Gagnaire, Jane Frydenberg, Peder K Bøcher, Bjarni Jónsson, Louis Bernatchez and Michael M Hansen
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:138
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  47. Conserving genetic diversity and local adaptations are management priorities for wild populations of exploited species, which increasingly are subject to climate change, habitat loss, and pollution. These cons...

    Authors: Amanda E Haponski and Carol A Stepien
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:133
    Content type: Research article Published on:

  48. Habitat fragmentation has accelerated within the last century, but may have been ongoing over longer time scales. We analyzed the timing and genetic consequences of fragmentation in two isolated lake-dwelling ...

    Authors: Michael M Hansen, Morten T Limborg, Anne-Laure Ferchaud and José-Martin Pujolar
    Citation: BMC Evolutionary Biology 2014 14:122
    Content type: Research article Published on:
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