Search results for "Micro-evolution"
showing 2 items of 2 documents
Shared language, diverging genetic histories: high-resolution analysis of Y-chromosome variability in Calabrian and Sicilian Arbereshe.
2015
The relationship between genetic and linguistic diversification in human populations has been often explored to interpret some specific issues in human history. The Albanian-speaking minorities of Sicily and Southern Italy (Arbereshe) constitute an important portion of the ethnolinguistic variability of Italy. Their linguistic isolation from neighboring Italian populations and their documented migration history, make such minorities particularly effective for investigating the interplay between cultural, geographic and historical factors. Nevertheless, the extent of Arbereshe genetic relationships with the Balkan homeland and the Italian recipient populations has been only partially investi…
Plastic and micro-evolutionary responses of a nematode to the host immune environment
2017
9 pages; International audience; Parasitic organisms have to cope with the defences deployed by their hosts and this can be achieved adopting immune evasion strategies or optimal life history traits according to the prevailing pattern of immune-mediated mortality. Parasites often encounter variable immune environments both within and between hosts, promoting the evolution of plastic strategies instead of fixed responses. Here, we explored the plasticity and micro-evolutionary responses of immunomodulatory mechanisms and life history traits to the immune environment provided by the host, using the parasitic nematode Heligmosomoides polygyrus. To test if the parasite responds plastically to t…