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GSK3 (glycogen synthase kinase 3) genes encode signal transduction proteins with roles in a variety of biological processes in eukaryotes. In contrast to the low copy numbers observed in animals, GSK3 genes have ...
A novel sarcomeric myosin heavy chain gene, MYH14, was identified following the completion of the human genome project. MYH14 contains an intronic microRNA, miR-499, which is expressed in a slow/cardiac muscle sp...
Grapes are one of the most economically important fruit crops. There are about 60 species in the genus Vitis. The phylogenetic relationships among these species are of keen interest for the conservation and use o...
Insertions/deletions (indels) in protein sequences are useful as drug targets, protein structure predictors, species diagnostics and evolutionary markers. However there is limited understanding of indel evolut...
Sex-limited polymorphisms have long intrigued evolutionary biologists and have been the subject of long-standing debates. The coexistence of multiple male and/or female morphs is widely believed to be maintain...
Bees are the primary pollinators of angiosperms throughout the world. There are more than 16,000 described species, with broad variation in life history traits such as nesting habitat, diet, and social behavio...
Prospero (Hyacinthaceae) provides a unique system to assess the impact of genome rearrangements on plant diversification and evolution. The genus exhibits remarkable chromosomal variation but very little morpholo...
Clear examples of ecological speciation exist, often involving divergence in trophic morphology. However, substantial variation also exists in how far the ecological speciation process proceeds, potentially li...
Anuran vocalizations, especially their advertisement calls, are largely species-specific and can be used to identify taxonomic affiliations. Because anurans are not vocal learners, their vocalizations are gene...
Previous experiments have shown that the reduced gravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS) causes important alterations in Drosophila gene expression. These changes were shown to be intimately linked t...
Body shape is one of the most variable traits of organisms and responds to a broad array of local selective forces. In freshwater fish, divergent body shapes within single species have been repeatedly observed...
ParaHox and Hox genes are thought to have evolved from a common ancestral ProtoHox cluster or from tandem duplication prior to the divergence of cnidarians and bilaterians. Similar to Hox clusters, chordate Pa...
Elongation factor-1α (EF-1α) and elongation factor-like (EFL) proteins are functionally homologous to one another, and are core components of the eukaryotic translation machinery. The patchy distribution of th...
C. gloeosporioides sensu lato is one of the most economically important post-harvest diseases affecting papaya production worldwide. There is currently no information concerning the genetic structure or demograph...
The infraorder Anomura has long captivated the attention of evolutionary biologists due to its impressive morphological diversity and ecological adaptations. To date, 2500 extant species have been described bu...
Sakha – an area connecting South and Northeast Siberia – is significant for understanding the history of peopling of Northeast Eurasia and the Americas. Previous studies have shown a genetic contiguity between...
Theoretical models and experimental evidence suggest that rates of molecular evolution could be raised in parasitic organisms compared to non-parasitic taxa. Parasitic plants provide an ideal test for these pr...
Dispersal is a major factor in ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Although empirical evidence shows that the tendency to disperse varies among individuals in many organisms, the evolution of dispersal patte...
Although gene overlapping is a common feature of prokaryote and mitochondria genomes, such genes have also been identified in many eukaryotes. The overlapping genes in eukaryotes are extensively rearranged eve...
Eosauropterygians consist of two major clades, the Nothosauroidea of the Tethysian Middle Triassic (e.g., Nothosaurus) and the Pistosauroidea. The Pistosauroidea include rare Triassic forms (Pistosauridae) and th...
The gibel carp is a fish species with dual reproduction modes, gynogenesis and sexual reproduction, coexisting in mixed diploid-polyploid populations. Following the Red Queen (RQ) assumption, asexual organisms...
The physiological functions of the human Sterile Alpha Motif Domain-containing 9 (SAMD9) gene and its chromosomally adjacent paralogue, SAMD9-like (SAMD9L), currently remain unknown. However, the direct links bet...
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an important infectious agent that causes widespread concern because billions of people are infected by at least 8 different HBV genotypes worldwide. However, reconstruction of the p...
Remipedia were initially seen as a primitive taxon within Pancrustacea based on characters considered ancestral, such as the homonomously segmented trunk. Meanwhile, several morphological and molecular studies...
Wing size and shape have important aerodynamic implications on flight performance. We explored how wing size was related to wing shape in territorial males of 37 taxa of the damselfly family Calopterygidae. Wi...
The widespread protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii interferes with host cell functions by exporting the contents of a unique apical organelle, the rhoptry. Among the mix of secreted proteins are an expanded, lin...
Sexual conflict over mating rates may favour the origin and maintenance of phenotypes with contrasting reproductive strategies. The damselfly Ischnura elegans is characterised by a female colour polymorphism that...
Species with strict ecological requirements may provide new insights into the forces that shaped the geographic variation of genetic diversity. The Pyrenean desman, Galemys pyrenaicus, is a small semi-aquatic mam...
Many boreo-temperate mammals have a Pleistocene fossil record throughout Eurasia and North America, but only few have a contemporary distribution that spans this large area. Examples of Holarctic-distributed c...
Comparison of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes across vertebrate species can reveal molecular mechanisms underlying the evolution of adaptive immunity-related proteins. As the first terrestrial tet...
Hair cells are vertebrate secondary sensory cells located in the ear and in the lateral line organ. Until recently, these cells were considered to be mechanoreceptors exclusively found in vertebrates that evol...
A skewed assemblage of two epi-, meso- and bathypelagic fish families makes up the order Myctophiformes – the blackchins Neoscopelidae and the lanternfishes Myctophidae. The six rare neoscopelids show few morp...
The var genes of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum are highly polymorphic loci coding for the erythrocyte membrane proteins 1 (PfEMP1), which are responsible for the cytoaherence of P. falciparum i...
Many groups of insects have obligate bacterial symbionts that are vertically transmitted. Such associations are typically characterized by the presence of a monophyletic group of bacteria living in a well-defi...
Speciation reversal: the erosion of species differentiation via an increase in introgressive hybridization due to the weakening of previously divergent selection regimes, is thought to be an important, yet poo...
Retrotransposons have been suggested to provide a substrate for non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR) and thereby promote gene family expansion. Their precise role, however, is controversial. Here we ask...
Rapid and reliable identification of quarantine pests is essential for plant inspection services to prevent introduction of invasive species. For insects, this may be a serious problem when dealing with morpho...
Understanding the evolution of species limits is important in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology. Despite its likely importance in the evolution of these limits, little is known about phenotypic cova...
A novel transient structure was observed in the spermatids of three ratite species using transmission electron microscopy.
PHOSPHATE1 (PHO1) gene family members have diverse roles in plant growth and development, and they have been studied in Arabidopsis, rice, and Physcomitrella. However, it has yet to be described in other plants. ...
Phylogenetic studies, particularly those based on rDNA sequences from plant roots and basidiomata, have revealed a strikingly high genetic diversity in the Sebacinales. However, the factors determining this ge...
Retrotransposons are a major component of the human genome constituting as much as 45%. The hominid specific SINE-VNTR-Alus are the youngest of these elements constituting 0.13% of the genome; they are therefo...
Chromosomal inversions are increasingly being recognized as important in adaptive shifts and are expected to influence patterns of genetic variation, but few studies have examined genetic patterns in inversion...
Exceptionally preserved Palaeozoic faunas have yielded a plethora of trilobite-like arthropods, often referred to as lamellipedians. Among these, Artiopoda is supposed to contain taxa united by a distinctive a...
Few studies on eurypterids have taken into account morphological changes that occur throughout postembryonic development. Here two species of eurypterid are described from the Pragian Beartooth Butte Formation...
Multiple infections of the same host by different strains of the same microparasite species are believed to play a crucial role during the evolution of parasite virulence. We investigated the role of specifici...
Tyrosinases, tyrosinase-related proteins, catechol oxidases and hemocyanins comprise the type-3 copper protein family and are involved in a variety of biological processes, including pigment formation, innate ...
In evolutionary and conservation biology, parasitism is often highlighted as a major selective pressure. To fight against parasites and pathogens, genetic diversity of the immune genes of the major histocompat...
Several macroevolutionary hypotheses propose a synchrony between climatic changes and variations in the structure of faunal communities. Some of them focus on the importance of the species ecological specializ...
The extant squamates (>9400 known species of lizards and snakes) are one of the most diverse and conspicuous radiations of terrestrial vertebrates, but no studies have attempted to reconstruct a phylogeny for ...
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