Evolution articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article |

    Genes involved in sex determination show sequence conservation between mammals and fungi. Here the authors show that human sex determinant, SRY protein, is able to functionally replace the fungal mating type determinant MatA, which suggests that sex determination factors are functionally conserved.

    • Wioletta Czaja
    • , Karen Y. Miller
    •  & Bruce L. Miller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Calcifying organisms such as planktonic coccolithophores may be particularly vulnerable to increased ocean acidification. Here, O’Dea et al.show that two fossil coccolithophore species exhibited reduced calcification rates during a global warming acidification event 56 million years ago.

    • Sarah A. O’Dea
    • , Samantha J. Gibbs
    •  & Paul A. Wilson

  • Article |

    It is generally accepted that Polynesian settlers were directly responsible for the extinction of New Zealand moa. Here, the authors present three series of radiocarbon ages that define the brief period of interaction between Polynesians and moa, and show that high human population densities are not a prerequisite for the extinction of megafauna populations.

    • Richard N. Holdaway
    • , Morten E. Allentoft
    •  & Michael Bunce

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The genetic basis of sex chromosome pseudoautosomal regions (PAR) in organisms with female heterogamety is largely unknown. Smeds et al.provide the first molecular characterization of the PAR in birds with differentiated sex chromosomes and show a potential recombination hotspot and no evidence for strong sexual antagonism in this region.

    • Linnéa Smeds
    • , Takeshi Kawakami
    •  & Hans Ellegren

  • Article |

    The origin of the unique turtle lung ventilatory apparatus is poorly understood. Here the authors show an increase in body wall rigidity early in evolution that allowed the abdominal muscles to become specialized for breathing and the ribs to eventually form the iconic turtle shell.

    • Tyler R. Lyson
    • , Emma R. Schachner
    •  & Kevin de Queiroz

  • Article |

    Fishes have diverse colour patterns, yet the mechanisms of pattern diversification are poorly understood. Here, the authors show that the uniform pigment pattern in Danio albolineatus is established by an early differentiation of xanthophores controlled by cis regulatory changes at the csf1alocus.

    • Larissa B. Patterson
    • , Emily J. Bain
    •  & David M. Parichy

  • Article |

    Organisms exhibit considerable variation in resource competitiveness. Here, the authors explain this variation by showing that competitiveness either evolves to a state where individuals with different competitive abilities coexist, or to oscillations between periods of high and low competitiveness.

    • Sebastian A. Baldauf
    • , Leif Engqvist
    •  & Franz J. Weissing

  • Article |

    Genes acquired by horizontal transfer must be incorporated into existing regulatory networks to become functional. Here, Will et al. show that conserved and horizontally acquired PhoP-regulated genes in Salmonellaare regulated by distinct mechanisms, defined by promoter architecture.

    • W. Ryan Will
    • , Denise H. Bale
    •  & Ferric C. Fang

  • Review Article |

    Patterns of genomic variation can be used to identify targets of positive selection but understanding their mode of evolution is challenging. This review discusses theory and empirical evidence regarding soft sweep models and concludes that the recent enthusiasm for soft sweeps is unfounded.

    • Jeffrey D Jensen

  • Article |

    Similar morphologies can evolve repeatedly in similar environments. Here, the authors show morphological, ecological and genetic differentiation between sympatric ecomorphs across two independent radiations of crater lake cichlids, but a different order of speciation events across radiations.

    • Kathryn R. Elmer
    • , Shaohua Fan
    •  & Axel Meyer

  • Article |

    The role of predator evolution in eco-evolutionary dynamics has received less attention than that of prey. Here, Hiltunen and Becks show that prey anti-predator traits evolve faster and are more variable in the presence of co-evolved predators, resulting in altered community dynamics.

    • Teppo Hiltunen
    •  & Lutz Becks

  • Article |

    The nasopharynx-associated lymphoid tissue (NALT) of terrestrial mammals serves as a first line of defence against pathogens. Here the authors show that fish also have NALT, characterized by the presence of diffuse lymphoid cells including IgT+B cells, and demonstrate successful intranasal immunization.

    • Luca Tacchi
    • , Rami Musharrafieh
    •  & Irene Salinas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing techniques have enabled the analysis of ancient human genomes. Here the authors sequence ancient human genomes that span a period of 5,000 years, to understand the ancestral influence on Europe's genetic landscape.

    • Cristina Gamba
    • , Eppie R. Jones
    •  & Ron Pinhasi

  • Article |

    Comparative genomics can provide valuable insights on adaptations to hostile environments. Here, the authors sequence the genomes and transcriptomes of the Bactrian camel, dromedary and alpaca, to reveal the demographic history of the group as well as metabolic adaptations to the desert environment.

    • Huiguang Wu
    • , Xuanmin Guang
    •  & Jun Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Populations of the cave fish Astyanax mexicanus exhibit a variety of traits that evolved repeatedly and independently from its surface counterparts. Here the authors present a de novo genome assembly for A. mexicanusand identify candidate genes for eye loss and reduced pigmentation.

    • Suzanne E. McGaugh
    • , Joshua B. Gross
    •  & Wesley C. Warren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasmids are important for bacterial evolution but the evolutionary mechanisms behind their maintenance are unclear. Here the authors show that the interplay between compensatory adaptation and positive selection for plasmid-encoded antibiotic resistance determines plasmid persistence in P. aeruginosa.

    • A. San Millan
    • , R. Peña-Miller
    •  & R. C. MacLean

  • Article |

    Understanding influenza evolution is challenging. Here, the authors determine the timing and order of critical amino acid changes that contributed to a world-wide predominance of oseltamivir-resistant H1N1 influenza viruses and show the role of epistasis in the emergence of novel influenza phenotypes.

    • Susu Duan
    • , Elena A. Govorkova
    •  & Richard J. Webby

  • Article |

    Wolbachia are common obligate intracellular symbionts, yet their evolutionary relationships remain largely unknown. Here, the authors present a phylogenomic analysis of the group and show a possible single origin of the ubiquitous Wolbachialineages.

    • Michael Gerth
    • , Marie-Theres Gansauge
    •  & Christoph Bleidorn

  • Article |

    It is generally assumed that a person’s cooperative behaviour is consistent, but direct evidence is lacking. Here, the authors show consistent patterns of an individual’s behaviour both in different cooperation games and through time, suggesting that an individual's cooperative behaviour is general and stable.

    • Alexander Peysakhovich
    • , Martin A. Nowak
    •  & David G. Rand

  • Article |

    Chloroplasts originate from endosymbiosis between a cyanobacterium and a eukaryotic mitochondriate ancestor. Here, the authors show that the plastid ancestor is related to a cyanobacterial lineage that include N2-fixing filamentous cyanobacteria and species with specialized nitrogen-fixing cells.

    • Jesús A. G. Ochoa de Alda
    • , Rocío Esteban
    •  & Jean Houmard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The African chironomid midge, Polypedilum vanderplanki, is able to withstand extreme desiccation. Here the authors sequence the genomes of a desiccation-tolerant and desiccation-sensitive species of chironomid midge and pinpoint genes that may have a role in conferring resistance to desiccation.

    • Oleg Gusev
    • , Yoshitaka Suetsugu
    •  & Takahiro Kikawada

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Little is known about Mesozoic marine reptile dead-falls. Here, the authors reconstruct the ecological succession of a Late Jurassic shallow-water ichthyosaur fall community and show that it fulfilled ecological roles similar to shallow whale falls and did not support specialized chemosynthetic communities.

    • Silvia Danise
    • , Richard J. Twitchett
    •  & Katie Matts

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plasmodium falciparum, known to cause malaria in humans, evolved from parasites of African Great Apes. Here, the authors compare the genome of the human parasite, P. falciparum, with those of two related chimpanzee parasites, P. reichenowi and P. gaboni, and provide insight into the genetic basis of P. falciparumadaptation to human hosts.

    • Thomas D. Otto
    • , Julian C. Rayner
    •  & Matthew Berriman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Little is known about the genetic basis of convergent evolution in deeply diverged species. Here, the authors show that variation in the WntAgene is associated with parallel wing pattern variation in two butterflies that diverged more than 65 million years ago.

    • Jason R. Gallant
    • , Vance E. Imhoff
    •  & Sean P. Mullen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) vary in chromosome number. Here, the authors sequence the genome of the Glanville fritillary butterfly, Melitaea cinxia, show it has the ancestral lepidopteran karyotype and provide insight into how chromosomal fusions have shaped karyotype evolution in butterflies and moths.

    • Virpi Ahola
    • , Rainer Lehtonen
    •  & Ilkka Hanski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Palaeodiversity estimations are confounded by fossil availability and sampling. Here, Dunhill et al.use the fossil record of Great Britain to test aspects of the marine and terrestrial fossil records that are commonly used to identify and correct for bias in palaeodiversity estimations.

    • Alexander M. Dunhill
    • , Bjarte Hannisdal
    •  & Michael J. Benton

  • Article |

    It is unclear how mimetic radiations, the evolution of a species to resemble different model species, contribute to speciation. Here, the authors show patterns of mating behaviour and genetic divergence, suggesting that mimetic divergence has promoted incipient speciation in a group of Peruvian poison frogs.

    • Evan Twomey
    • , Jacob S. Vestergaard
    •  & Kyle Summers

  • Article |

    The evolutionary foundation of human prosociality remains poorly understood. Here, the authors show that extensive allomaternal care is the best predictor of prosocial behaviour among 15 primate species, including humans, which suggests that prosocial motivations arise along with cooperative breeding.

    • J. M. Burkart
    • , O. Allon
    •  & C. P. van Schaik

  • Article |

    The causes of crocodylomorphs extinction during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic remain unclear. Here, the authors show significant correlations between crocodylomorph diversity and Tethyan sea surface temperatures, which suggests that water temperature was a driver of marine crocodylomorph diversity.

    • Jeremy E. Martin
    • , Romain Amiot
    •  & Michael J. Benton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the factors determining pathogen host range is critical for human health. Here, the authors show that bacteria use cooperative secretions to modify their environment and to infect multiple host species, which suggests that cooperative secretions are key determinants of host range in bacteria.

    • Luke McNally
    • , Mafalda Viana
    •  & Sam P. Brown

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Group B streptococci (GBS) started causing serious infections in newborn babies in the 1960s. Here, the authors show that the emergence of GBS diseases was associated with worldwide dissemination of a few clones that were resistant to tetracycline, an antibiotic that became widely used in the 1950s.

    • Violette Da Cunha
    • , Mark R. Davies
    •  & Philippe Glaser

  • Article |

    Understanding how developmental, functional and geometric factors determine brain evolution is challenging. Here, the authors show that chimpanzee and human brains have a modular structure and find that local spatial interactions pose stronger constrains to evolution than developmental and functional patterns.

    • Aida Gómez-Robles
    • , William D. Hopkins
    •  & Chet C. Sherwood

  • Article |

    Assessing spatial patterns of biodiversity using phylogenetic methods is a promising approach for conservation planning. Here, Mishler et al. develop a method to distinguish between recent and old endemism and provide new insights about biodiversity across space and time for the Australian Acacia.

    • Brent D. Mishler
    • , Nunzio Knerr
    •  & Joseph T. Miller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) is thought to control the flowering time of A. thaliana in response to winter temperatures, in a process known as vernalization. Here, the authors suggest that the COOLAIR antisense RNA, which is conserved across plant species, acts to repress the expression of FLCduring vernalization.

    • Loren Castaings
    • , Sara Bergonzi
    •  & George Coupland

  • Article |

    Modern arthropods present niche differentiation between larvae and adult stages. Here, Liu et al. describe a larval fossil of Leanchoilia illecebrosa, an early Cambrian arthropod from China, and show a feeding appendage, unknown in adults, that suggests that niche differentiation originated in the early Cambrian.

    • Yu Liu
    • , Joachim T. Haug
    •  & Xianguang Hou

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