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| Open AccessHOP1 and HAP2 are conserved components of the meiosis-related machinery required for successful mating in Leishmania
Genetic exchange has been experimentally demonstrated for Leishmania during sand fly development, indicating a meiotic mechanism. Here the authors show that meiosis-related genes HOP1 and HAP2-2 are essential for Leishmania hybridization in vitro and in sand flies and that their deletion in one or both parents hinders mating competence.
- Carolina Moura Costa Catta-Preta
- , Tiago Rodrigues Ferreira
- & David Sacks
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Article
| Open AccessMolecular fingerprints resolve affinities of Rhynie chert organic fossils
It can be challenging to identify extinct organisms with morphology alone. Here, the authors use non-destructive Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to determine the molecular fingerprints of eukaryotes and prokaryotes from the 407 Ma Rhynie chert fossil assemblage of Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
- C. C. Loron
- , E. Rodriguez Dzul
- & S. McMahon
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| Open AccessReversing insecticide resistance with allelic-drive in Drosophila melanogaster
Insecticide resistance (IR) poses a major global health challenge. Here, the authors generate common IR mutations in laboratory Drosophila strains and use a CRISPR-based allelic-drive to replace an IR allele with a susceptible wild-type counterpart, providing a potent new tool for vector control.
- Bhagyashree Kaduskar
- , Raja Babu Singh Kushwah
- & Ethan Bier
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| Open AccessCollapse of the mammoth-steppe in central Yukon as revealed by ancient environmental DNA
‘The timing and ecological dynamics of extinction in the late Pleistocene are not well understood. Here, the authors use sediment ancient DNA from permafrost cores to reconstruct the paleoecology of the central Yukon, finding a substantial turnover in ecosystem composition between 13,500-10,000 years BP and persistence of some species past their supposed extinctions.’
- Tyler J. Murchie
- , Alistair J. Monteath
- & Hendrik N. Poinar
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| Open AccessSignatures of mitonuclear coevolution in a warbler species complex
Little is known on how mitonuclear interactions influence genomic divergence among hybrid and parental lineages. A study of hybridizing wood warbler species complex finds a nuclear gene block with mitochondrial functions coevolves with mitochondrial genome, driven by climate-associated divergent selection underlying hybrid-parental population divergence.
- Silu Wang
- , Madelyn J. Ore
- & Darren Irwin
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| Open AccessDiscovery of EMRE in fungi resolves the true evolutionary history of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter
The mitochondrial calcium uptake system, crucial for cellular processes, evolved in ancient eukaryotes. Here, authors perform a phylogenomic analysis across 1,156 eukaryotes, and show that previously identified animal and fungal genes in this system originated from an ancestral duplication.
- Alexandros A. Pittis
- , Valerie Goh
- & Toni Gabaldón
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| Open AccessSex chromosome evolution in parasitic nematodes of humans
Many nematode worms, including Caenorhabditis elegans have XX/XO sex determination, while other species have XY. The authors use a new genome assembly of the filarial parasite Brugia malayi and published data to show that nematode sex chromosome evolution is highly plastic.
- Jeremy M. Foster
- , Alexandra Grote
- & Elodie Ghedin
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| Open AccessNuclear-mitochondrial DNA segments resemble paternally inherited mitochondrial DNA in humans
Recent evidence has questioned the dogma of strict maternal transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in humans. Wei et al. saw no evidence of paternal transmission of mtDNA in 11,035 human trios, and show that nuclear-mitochondrial segments (NUMTs) can give the impression of paternal mtDNA transmission, but are actually inherited through the nuclear genome.
- Wei Wei
- , Alistair T. Pagnamenta
- & Patrick F. Chinnery
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| Open AccessThe Polycomb protein Ezl1 mediates H3K9 and H3K27 methylation to repress transposable elements in Paramecium
H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 chromatin silencing marks are usually deposited by different SET-domain proteins. Here the authors show that the Enhancer-of-zeste-like protein Ezl1, from the unicellular eukaryote Paramecium tetraurelia, catalyzes methylation of histone H3 in vitro and in vivo with an apparent specificity toward K9 and K27, and controls the repression of transposable elements.
- Andrea Frapporti
- , Caridad Miró Pina
- & Sandra Duharcourt
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| Open AccessConserved roles of C. elegans and human MANFs in sulfatide binding and cytoprotection
MANF is a secreted ER stress-inducible protein that protects neurons, pancreatic β cells and cardiomyocytes from cell death under oxidative stress, hypoxic or ischemic conditions. Here the authors show that MANF confers cytoprotection through direct binding to sulfatide followed by cellular uptake in both C. elegans and mammalian cells.
- Meirong Bai
- , Roman Vozdek
- & Dengke K. Ma
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Article
| Open AccessEukaryotic opportunists dominate the deep-subsurface biosphere in South Africa
The extent of diversity in deep subsurface mines is not well documented. Here, Borgonie et al.report the discovery of Protozoa, Fungi, Platyhelminthes, Rotifera, Annelida and Arthropoda from 1.4 km below ground, and conclude that their population growth is limited by food rather than oxygen availability.
- G. Borgonie
- , B. Linage-Alvarez
- & E. Van Heerden
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Article
| Open AccessMacrotene chromosomes provide insights to a new mechanism of high-order gene amplification in eukaryotes
Copy number variation is an important source of genetic variation in natural populations and may have a role in human disease. Here, the authors identify high-order amplification structures that form large extended chromosomes and suggest that these may occur due to accidental template switching in stress conditions.
- Agnès Thierry
- , Varun Khanna
- & Bernard Dujon