Search results for "evolutionary biology"
showing 10 items of 3886 documents
L'arbre de la vie a-t-il une structure fractale?
1999
Abstract We analyse the time sequences of major evolutionary leaps at various scales, from the scale of the global tree of life, to the scales of orders and families such as sauropod dinosaurs, North American fossil Equidae, rodents, and primates including the Hominidae. In each case we find that these data are consistent with a log- periodic law to high level of statistical significance. Such a law is characterized by a critical epoch of convergence Tc specific to the lineage under consideration and that can be interpreted as the end of that lineage's capacity to evolve.
The Phylogenetic Analysis of Variable-Length Sequence Data: Elongation Factor–1α Introns in European Populations of the Parasitoid Wasp Genus Pauesia…
2001
Elongation factor-1alpha (EF-1alpha) is a highly conserved nuclear coding gene that can be used to investigate recent divergences due to the presence of rapidly evolving introns. However, a universal feature of intron sequences is that even closely related species exhibit insertion and deletion events, which cause variation in the lengths of the sequences. Indels are frequently rich in evolutionary information, but most investigators ignore sites that fall within these variable regions, largely because the analytical tools and theory are not well developed. We examined this problem in the taxonomically problematic parasitoid wasp genus Pauesia (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) using con…
The Origin of Metazoan Complexity: Porifera as Integrated Animals
2011
SYNOPSIS. Sponges [Porifera] are the phylogenetically oldest metazoan phylum still extant today; they share the closest relationship with the hypothetical common metazoan ancestor, the Urmetazoa. During the past 8 years cDNAs coding for proteins involved in cell-cell- and cell-tissue interaction have been cloned from sponges, primarily from Suberites domuncula and Geodia cydonium and their functions have been studied in vivo as well as in vitro. Also, characteristic elements of the extracellular matrix have been identified and cloned. Those data confirmed that all metazoan phyla originate from one ancestor, the Urmetazoa. The existence of cell adhesion molecules allowed the emergence of a c…
The unique skeleton of siliceous sponges (Porifera; Hexactinellida and Demospongiae) that evolved first from the Urmetazoa during the Proterozoic: a …
2007
Abstract. Sponges (phylum Porifera) had been considered as an enigmatic phylum, prior to the analysis of their genetic repertoire/tool kit. Already with the isolation of the first adhesion molecule, galectin, it became clear that the sequences of the sponge cell surface receptors and those of the molecules forming the intracellular signal transduction pathways, triggered by them, share high similarity to those identified in other metazoan phyla. These studies demonstrated that all metazoan phyla, including the Porifera, originate from one common ancestor, the Urmetazoa. The sponges evolved during a time prior to the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary (542 million years ago (myr)). They appeared du…
Patterns and causes of incongruence between plastid and nuclear Senecioneae (Asteraceae) phylogenies
2010
One of the longstanding questions in phylogenetic systematics is how to address incongruence among phylogenies obtained from multiple markers and how to determine the causes. This study presents a detailed analysis of incongruent patterns between plastid and ITS/ETS phylogenies of Tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae). This approach revealed widespread and strongly supported incongruence, which complicates conclusions about evolutionary relationships at all taxonomic levels. The patterns of incongruence that were resolved suggest that incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and/or ancient hybridization are the most likely explanations. These phenomena are, however, extremely difficult to distinguish beca…
The Microbiome Studies in Metabolic Diseases have Advanced but are Poorly Standardized and Lack a Mechanistic Perspective
2015
Copyright: © 2014 Pekkala S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. During the last decades hundreds of studies have reported the association of Gut Microbiota (GM) with obesity and related metabolic disorders [1]. However, recently the microbiome studies were criticized about the lack of skepticism [2]. The author of the article questioned the role of GM in different diseases and asked whether the detected differences between the subjects biologically matter? We do believe that the role of…
Evolutionary history and diversity of arthropod hemocyanins
2004
Hemocyanins are copper-containing, multi-subunit proteins that transport oxygen in the hemolymph of many molluscs and arthropods [Markl and Decher, Adv. Comp. Environ. Physiol. 13 (1992) 325; van Holde et al., J. Biol. Chem. 276 (2001) 15563]. Arthropod hemocyanins originated more than 550 million years ago from oxygen-consuming phenoloxidases. Hemocyanins are present in various Onychophora, Chelicerata, Myriapoda, Crustacea, and Hexapoda, but subunit evolution differs striking in these arthropod subphyla. Hemocyanins also gave rise to non-respiratory proteins (crustacean pseudo-hemocyanins, insect hexamerins, and hexamerin receptors), which most likely have storage functions.
The effect of periodic bottlenecks on the competitive ability of Drosophila pseudoobscura lines.
1993
Competition experiments between several Drosophila pseudoobscura strains that were previously subjected to periodic bottlenecks of different sizes and D. willistoni have been carried out. Contrary to previous results with these two species, where stable coexistence was detected, populations of D. pseudoobscura displaced D. willistoni in a few generations. By using a relative fitness measure, the control lines (that had not gone through bottlenecks) outcompeted D. willistoni faster than bottlenecked lines. One of these, corresponding to the minimum possible bottleneck size of one pair, also shows significantly lower relative fitness than the other strains. These results are discussed in rela…
Tellurite-dependent blackening of bacteria emerges from the dark ages
2019
Environmental contextAlthough tellurium is a relatively rare element in the earth’s crust, its concentration in some niches can be naturally high owing to unique geology. Tellurium, as the oxyanion, is toxic to prokaryotes, and although prokaryotes have evolved resistance to tellurium, no universal mechanism exists. We review the interaction of tellurite with prokaryotes with a focus on those unique strains that thrive in environments naturally rich in tellurium. AbstractThe timeline of tellurite prokaryotic biology and biochemistry is now over 50 years long. Its start was in the clinical microbiology arena up to the 1970s. The 1980s saw the cloning of tellurite resistance determinants whil…
Sexually selected traits evolve positive allometry when some matings occur irrespective of the trait
2014
Positive allometry of secondary sexual traits (whereby larger individuals have disproportionally larger traits than smaller individuals) has been called one of the most pervasive and poorly understood regularities in the study of animal form and function. Its widespread occurrence is in contrast with theoretical predictions that it should evolve only under rather special circumstances. Using a combination of mathematical modeling and simulations, here we show that positive allometry is predicted to evolve under much broader conditions than previously recognized. This result hinges on the assumption that mating success is not necessarily zero for males with the lowest trait values: for examp…