Research articles

Invasion of novel environments by the perennial sunflower Helianthus tuberosus is facilitated by a plastic response of clonality to water availability, in line with the theory of genetic accommodation.

The acetyl-CoA pathway is the most ancient CO₂ fixation pathway in nature. Here, the authors show that metals selectively reduce CO₂ to the intermediates and end-products of the acetyl-CoA pathway, which is consistent with a prebiotic origin of this pathway.

The fungal pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus is killing European common ash trees. Here, the authors sequence the genome of H. fraxineus and show that European populations were founded by two divergent haploid individuals introduced from Asia.

The ability to evolve resistance to the antibiotic ceftazidime is shown to vary across the Pseudomonas genus because the AmpR global transcriptional regulator potentiates evolution. Blocking this pathway can eliminate pathogenic strains before they evolve resistance.

Analysis of the life history and habitat of the ambrosia beetle Austroplatypus incompertus reveals strict monogamy and lifetime sperm storage as precursors to eusociality in this coleopteran species.

Most work on phenological mismatch has focused on temporal trends only. Here, the authors analyse trends in spatial and temporal mismatch between trees, caterpillars and birds in the UK, and find delayed phenology of all species with increasing latitude and little spatial variation in the magnitude of mismatch between caterpillars and birds.

Fitness landscapes describe the fitness of each genotype in a given environment. Here, the authors determine fitness landscapes of a yeast tRNA gene in four environments and show simple genotype-by-environment patterns that can easily be extrapolated to a new environment.

Many organisms can modify habitats for their own benefit, but some may also do so in non-beneficial ways. Here, the authors report an extreme example in soil bacteria in which modification of environmental pH at high population densities leads to population extinction.

A directly dated Homo sapiens phalanx from the Nefud desert reveals human presence in the Arabian Peninsula before 85,000 years ago. This represents the earliest date for H. sapiens outside Africa and the Levant.

A reconstruction of the colonization history of 1,311 Afro-Palaearctic songbird species, combined with comparisons of MHC-I genetic diversity, suggests that changes in pathogen pressure during colonization and migration have shaped immunity.

Virtual manipulation of the archaic hominin specimen Kabwe 1’s browridge and biting simulations reveal a limited spatial and biomechanical role, opening up the possibility that the hominin supraorbital region was co-opted for social signalling after facial reduction and morphological changes in the frontal bone.

Low-frequency passive microwave data (L-VOD) allow quantification of biomass change in sub-Saharan Africa between 2010 and 2016, revealing climate-induced carbon losses, particularly in drylands.

Trade-offs are common during evolutionary innovation. Here, the authors show that multicopy plasmids allow coexistence of the ancestral and evolved alleles in the TEM-1 β-lactamase system, helping bacteria to escape evolutionary constraints imposed by trade-offs.

Inferring ages of microbial lineages is particularly challenging due to a lack of fossil records for these organisms. Here, the authors show that lateral gene transfer can be used to date the tree of life.

Microbial methanogenesis during the Archaean eon may explain the high temperatures needed to support a liquid hydrosphere. Here, the authors find support for methanogenesis predating the Archaean by analysing horizontal gene transfer events between methanogenic Archaea and Cyanobacteria.

Hox genes play a fundamental role in vertebrate development. Here, the authors show that, like in jawed vertebrates, in cyclostomes the onset of Hox gene expression is determined by their position in the Hox gene cluster.

Analysing the spatial and temporal extents of 348 ecological studies published between 2004 and 2014, the authors show that although the average study interval and extent has increased, resolution and duration have remained largely unchanged.

A high-resolution local palaeoclimatic archive is correlated to the early Holocene human behavioural record at the British Mesolithic site of Star Carr. Despite environmental stresses at this time, intensive human activity persisted over centuries, suggesting resilience to climate change.

A phylogeny of nearly all extant amphibian species reveals biogeographic patterns of evolutionary distinctiveness and current threat exposure that will inform conservation strategies for these groups.

Adaptation in diploids is poorly understood. Here, the authors show a slower rate of adaptation and a shift towards adaptive dominant mutations in long-term experimental evolution of diploid strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.