Evolutionary genetics articles from across Nature Portfolio

A random sequence variant in an experimental screen can rescue Escherichi coli from the deleterious effects of a RNase toxin by interacting with chaperones.

Population genomics of the fungal plant pathogen Pyricularia oryzae shows that recombination of existing genetic variation during a multi-hybrid swarm probably facilitated an instantaneous host jump onto wheat.

In this Review, the authors describe the evolutionary conservation and divergence of the meiotic recombination machinery, focusing on proteins that are required for meiotic double-strand break formation, double-strand break repair via homologous recombination and the formation of crossover and non-crossover recombinant DNA molecules.

Whole-genome alignment of 239 primate species reveals noncoding regulatory elements that are under selective constraint in primates but not in other placental mammals, that are enriched for variants that affect human gene expression and complex traits in diseases.

Self-incompatibility in diploid Arabidopsis relatives is determined by a dominance relationship that is epigenetically regulated. Using transgenic methods, this study demonstrates that the dominance relationship between subgenomes of the allopolyploid species Arabidopsis kamchatica underlies it’s self-compatibility.

We gathered genetic data for 1,763 individuals from 147 populations across 14 African countries, and 12 Late Iron Age individuals, to trace the expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples over the past 6,000 years.

DNA analysis of ancient dental calculus samples revealed distinct oral microbial communities, including the archaeon Methanobrevibacter, which was associated with hygiene, diet and health.

Indicine cattle make up half of all cattle populations worldwide. Using a large genomic dataset, this study finds historic migrations and extensive introgression with domestic and wild bovine species has facilitated this species physiological adaptation to extreme environments.

A random sequence variant in an experimental screen can rescue Escherichi coli from the deleterious effects of a RNase toxin by interacting with chaperones.

Population genomics of the fungal plant pathogen Pyricularia oryzae shows that recombination of existing genetic variation during a multi-hybrid swarm probably facilitated an instantaneous host jump onto wheat.

Li Zhao recalls a 2006 paper by Levine et al. that, by identifying a handful of de novo genes, outlined a potentially universal process of de novo gene birth and propelled forward this field of research.

Luis Barreiro highlights a 2007 paper by Tishkoff et al. that identified genetic variants associated with lactose persistence in East African populations, representing one of the first examples of convergent evolution in humans.

A study in Science identifies Mavericks, a class of ancient, virus-like transposable elements, as a vector for horizontal gene transfer in nematodes.

Evolutionary geneticist whose powerful statistical methods facilitated the molecular revolution of evolutionary biology.