Evolution articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sexual dimorphism is common in nature. Here, the authors combine population genetics and functional experiments to show that a region containing the gene tan contributes to sex-limited colour dimorphism in Drosophila erectaand that this dimorphism has likely been adaptively maintained for millions of years.

    • Amir Yassin
    • , Héloïse Bastide
    •  & John E. Pool

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The common cuckoo lays its eggs in nests of a variety of species and their eggs mimic the ones of their hosts. Here, the authors show that blue egg colouration in the common cuckoo is maternally inherited, originated in Asia and then expanded to Europe.

    • Frode Fossøy
    • , Michael D Sorenson
    •  & Bård G Stokke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Unlike modern humans, Neanderthals had large and projecting faces. Here, the authors show that the maxilla of modern humans is distinct from those of the Neanderthal and Middle Pleistocene hominins from Sima de los Huesos because their growth processes differ markedly during the postnatal period.

    • Rodrigo S. Lacruz
    • , Timothy G. Bromage
    •  & Eudald Carbonell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Genetic and environmental factors affect genome-wide patterns of epigenetic variation. Here, the authors show that while current habitat and historical lifestyle impact the methylome of rainforest hunter-gatherers and sedentary farmers, the biological functions affected and the degree of genetic control differ.

    • Maud Fagny
    • , Etienne Patin
    •  & Lluis Quintana-Murci

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Geckos are small, agile reptiles with nocturnal habits. Here, the authors sequence the genome of the Schlegel’s Japanese Gecko and reveal gene family expansions and reductions associated with formation of adhesive setae, nocturnal vision, tail regeneration, and diversification of olfactory sensation.

    • Yan Liu
    • , Qian Zhou
    •  & Xiaosong Gu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Horizontal gene transfer is central to microbial evolution. Here, the authors develop an eco-evolutionary model and show that migration can greatly promote horizontal gene transfer, which explains how ecologically-important loci can sweep through the species in a microbial community.

    • Rene Niehus
    • , Sara Mitri
    •  & Kevin R. Foster

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic genomes from western Europe and the Caucasus reveal a previously undescribed strand of Eurasian ancestry with a deep divergence from other hunter-gatherer genomes. This had a profound impact on ancient and modern populations from the Atlantic to Central Asia.

    • Eppie R. Jones
    • , Gloria Gonzalez-Fortes
    •  & Daniel G. Bradley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The anklebone of dinosaurs presents the ‘ascending process’ (ASC), a projection also found in modern birds, yet the ASC in birds has unique developmental characteristics. Here, the authors show that the ASC in six birds develops from an ancient element of the tetrapod ankle in a way that resembles basal tetrapods.

    • Luis Ossa-Fuentes
    • , Jorge Mpodozis
    •  & Alexander O Vargas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Threespine stickleback fish are adapted to lake and stream habitats in Central Europe. Here, the authors show colonization of a lake basin by a stream-adapted ancestor, followed by the emergence of a lake-adapted population in the face of gene flow across lake–stream boundaries.

    • Marius Roesti
    • , Benjamin Kueng
    •  & Daniel Berner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The biogeographic origins of Permian terrestrial vertebrates in high-latitude regions remain poorly understood. Here, the authors report an early Permian continental tetrapod fauna from South America in tropical Western Gondwana that constitutes a new biogeographic province with North American affinities.

    • Juan C. Cisneros
    • , Claudia Marsicano
    •  & Rudyard W. Sadleir

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In intergenic trans-splicing, exons from two independent primary transcripts are joined. Here, the authors show that evolutionarily trans-splicing activity in insects is tightly controlled, with mod(mdg4)being a unique case of functional diversification involving trans-splicing.

    • Yimeng Kong
    • , Hongxia Zhou
    •  & Xuan Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The evolutionary origin of the peripheral nervous systems (PNSs) is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that two mechanisms activate gene circuits in ascidians to differentiate epidermal sensory neurons, which suggests that vertebrate PNSs arose via cooption of the ancient PNS gene circuit.

    • Kana Waki
    • , Kaoru S. Imai
    •  & Yutaka Satou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is driven by inhibitory but non-lethal antibiotic concentrations. Here, Sorg and Veening study the effects of different antibiotics on the pneumococcus, with a focus on inhibition dynamics, metabolic activity and processes at the single-cell level.

    • Robin A. Sorg
    •  & Jan-Willem Veening

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dispersal is key to establishing patterns of cooperation. Here, the authors show that social organization is associated with levels of cooperation in Sino-Tibetan populations with strikingly different dispersal patterns.

    • Jia-Jia Wu
    • , Ting Ji
    •  & Ruth Mace

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hominin fossils reveal high diversity in the types of terrestrial bipedalism. Here, the authors show that the foot of Homo naledifrom South Africa is predominantly human-like in morphology and inferred function and is well adapted for striding bipedalism.

    • W. E. H. Harcourt-Smith
    • , Z. Throckmorton
    •  & J. M. DeSilva

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is unclear to what extent early hominins were adapted to arboreal climbing. Here, the authors show that the nearly complete hand of H. naledifrom South Africa has markedly curved digits and otherwise human-like wrist and palm, which indicates the retention of a significant degree of climbing.

    • Tracy L. Kivell
    • , Andrew S. Deane
    •  & Steven E. Churchill

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The burying beetle shows flexible parenting behaviour. Here, the authors show that offspring fare equally well regardless of the sex or number of parents present and find similar gene expression profiles in uniparental and biparental females and in uniparental males, which suggests no specialization in parenting.

    • Darren J. Parker
    • , Christopher B. Cunningham
    •  & Allen J. Moore

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The biochemical pathways of central carbon metabolism are highly conserved across all domains of life. Here, Courtet al. use a computational approach to test all possible pathways of glycolysis and gluconeogenesis and find that the existing trunk pathways may represent a maximal flux solution selected for during evolution.

    • Steven J. Court
    • , Bartlomiej Waclaw
    •  & Rosalind J. Allen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Our understanding of how humans produce complex technologies is limited. Here, the authors use a computer-based experiment to show that the production of complex innovations results from a population process that relies on efficient social learning mechanisms and specific population structures.

    • Maxime Derex
    •  & Robert Boyd

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Crocodylians and their relatives have a rich evolutionary history. Here the authors show long-term decline of terrestrial crocodylians driven by decreasing temperatures but no relationship between temperature and biodiversity for marine crocodylians over their 250 million year history.

    • Philip D. Mannion
    • , Roger B. J. Benson
    •  & Richard J. Butler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Horizontal gene transfer from retroviruses to mammals is rare between unrelated viruses. Here the authors show the convergent acquisition by herpesviruses of a virulence gene of ancient retroviruses, which occurred at least twice from different donor lineages, to distinct herpesviruses that infect mammals.

    • Amr Aswad
    •  & Aris Katzourakis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diet is a major factor determining the composition of gut microbiota in mammals, while host evolutionary history seems to play an unclear role. Here, Sanderset al. show that baleen whales, which prey on animals, harbour a unique gut microbiome with similarities to those of terrestrial herbivores.

    • Jon G. Sanders
    • , Annabel C. Beichman
    •  & Peter R. Girguis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The presence of a pulmonary system in fossil coelacanths has only recently been identified, with little known about homologues in living species. Here, Cupello et al. confirm the presence of a lung in the extant species Latimeria chalumnaeand report its growth during different stages of development.

    • Camila Cupello
    • , Paulo M. Brito
    •  & Gaël Clément

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In species in which females mate with multiple partners, sexual selection acts on male traits involved in mating and fertilization. Here, the authors show that selection acting before and after mating explains a significant component of variance in male reproductive fitness in a livebearing fish.

    • Alessandro Devigili
    • , Jonathan P. Evans
    •  & Andrea Pilastro

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Butterflies are a promising system to study the genetics and evolution of morphological diversification, yet genomic and technological resources are limited. Here, the authors sequence genomes of two Papiliobutterflies and develop a CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing method for these species.

    • Xueyan Li
    • , Dingding Fan
    •  & Wen Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Some species of social bacteria can chemically modify their nutrient environments, which may influence community interactions. Here, McClean et al.show that changes at a single gene locus in a biofilm-forming bacteria can perturb community structure to the same extent as the loss of an apex predator.

    • Deirdre McClean
    • , Luke McNally
    •  & Ian Donohue

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the mechanism underlying the evolution of ecologically relevant traits is challenging. Here the authors show that changes in the Hox protein Ultrabithorax and its target genegiltcontribute to the evolution of long-mid-legs in water striders, a critical trait to escape predators.

    • David Armisén
    • , Peter Nagui Refki
    •  & Abderrahman Khila

  • Article |

    Changes in vegetation can influence the evolution of morphology and behaviour. Here the authors show an association between elbow-joint shape and habitat for North American canids over the past ∼37 million years, which suggests that climate change can influence the evolution of predatory behaviour.

    • B. Figueirido
    • , A. Martín-Serra
    •  & C. M. Janis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Introduction of pathogens can cause colony collapse in honey bees. Here, the authors use museum specimens to show widespread colony mortality but unaffected nuclear genetic diversity in a wild population of honey bees in North America following the introduction of ectoparasiticVarroamites.

    • Alexander S. Mikheyev
    • , Mandy M. Y. Tin
    •  & Thomas D. Seeley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Turtles are ectothermic vertebrates that have experienced major environmental perturbations. Here the authors show that the geographical distribution of turtles was mediated by climate throughout the Mezozoic and show an increase in diversity of non-marine turtles starting in the Early Cretaceous.

    • David B. Nicholson
    • , Patricia A. Holroyd
    •  & Paul M. Barrett

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The contribution of anthropogenic forcing to rising sea levels during the industrial era remains uncertain. Here, the authors provide a probabilistic evaluation and show that at least 45% of global mean sea level rise is of anthropogenic origin.

    • Sönke Dangendorf
    • , Marta Marcos
    •  & Jürgen Jensen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The African pygmies are known for their short stature, yet it is unclear when and how this phenotype is acquired during growth. Here the authors show that the pygmies’ small stature results primarily from slow growth during infancy.

    • Fernando V. Ramirez Rozzi
    • , Yves Koudou
    •  & Jérémie Botton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Phytochromes are red-light photoreceptors in plants that regulate key life cycle processes, yet their evolutionary origins are not well understood. Using transcriptomic and genomic data, Li et al.find that canonical plant phytochromes originated in a common ancestor of land plants and charophyte algae.

    • Fay-Wei Li
    • , Michael Melkonian
    •  & Sarah Mathews

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Complete sex chromosome dosage compensation is largely limited to male heterogametic species, with the majority of female heterogametic species displaying incomplete dosage compensation. Here, the authors show that sexual conflict over gene expression combined with sexual selection in males can explain this pattern.

    • Charles Mullon
    • , Alison E. Wright
    •  & Judith E. Mank

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Insects can accumulate high levels of glycerol as an adaptive response to dessication and freezing. Here, the authors show that glycerol transporters evolved from water-selective channels that co-opted the glycerol transport function of ancestral aquaglyceroporins in the oldest lineages of insects.

    • Roderick Nigel Finn
    • , François Chauvigné
    •  & Joan Cerdà

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The human hand can be distinguished from that of apes by its long thumb relative to fingers. Here the authors show that hand proportions vary greatly among ape species and that the human hand evolved from an ancestor that was more similar to humans than to chimpanzees.

    • Sergio Almécija
    • , Jeroen B. Smaers
    •  & William L. Jungers

  • Article |

    How animals distinguish family members from unrelated conspecifics is not fully understood. Here Levréro et al.show that although the structure of mandrill vocalisations can be modulated by their social environment, it still contains information that may be used to recognise unfamiliar relatives.

    • F. Levréro
    • , G. Carrete-Vega
    •  & M.J.E. Charpentier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The evolution of the brain in Old World monkeys (cercopithecoids) is poorly understood. Here the authors describe a complete endocast of Victoriapithecus, a 15 Myr old cercopithecoid, which shows that the brain size was much smaller and the olfactory bulbs much larger than in any extant catarrhine primate.

    • Lauren A. Gonzales
    • , Brenda R. Benefit
    •  & Fred Spoor

  • Article |

    Antibiotic resistance can evolve through the stepwise accumulation of mutations. Here, the authors reconstruct the multistep evolutionary pathway for trimethoprim resistance and show that epistatic interactions increase rather than decrease the accessibility of each adaptive peak.

    • Adam C. Palmer
    • , Erdal Toprak
    •  & Roy Kishony

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