Reposted by @pechmannm.bsky.social
Red devil spiders from the Canary Islands have a genome half the size of mainland counterparts - Pisarenco, @jrozasub.bsky.social et al. show how purifying selection against slightly deleterious DNA and TE insertions is the primary mechanism.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf206
#evobio #molbio #TEsky
doi.org
How Did Evolution Halve Genome Size During an Oceanic Island Colonization?
Abstract. Red devil spiders of the genus Dysdera colonized the Canary Islands and underwent an extraordinary diversification. Notably, their genomes are ne