Transposable elements (TEs), originally characterized in maize, are ubiquitous features of eukaryotes and replicate within genomes independent of the host replication cycle. This replicative advantage...

Summary: The similarity of the regulatory architecture of neurons and paraneurons revealed using cell identity markers to characterize the neuronal features of Caenorhabditis elegans uv1 paraneurons i...

August Weismann from Freiburg, Germany played an essential role in the general acceptance of Charles Darwin´s theory of evolution. He argued against the inhe...

Sex chromosome evolution is among the most dynamic genomic innovations in vertebrates, yet why some lineages evolve XY while others evolve ZW remains unclear. Using chromosome-level genomes from 19 ge...

Microsporidia are fungal intracellular parasites of animals and are a threat to human health and food security. In 2001, they became the first eukaryotic parasites to have their genome fully sequenced...

Here, the authors show that gut bacteria can protect nematodes from microsporidia via altering host fatty acids the parasites need to grow, and secreting molecules that inactivate parasite spores, rev...

Adaptation is assumed to proceed by survival of the fittest. The study shows that mutation bias can drive adaptation via survival of the likeliest, steering bacteria along divergent paths to resistanc...

Nature - Making the most of models

Abstract. Environmental heterogeneity can favor phenotypic plasticity, but whether evolutionary responses in one environment predict trait expression after

Inside cells, DNA is intimately associated with proteins, forming chromatin. The protein constituents of chromatin vary across the tree of life: histones are the principal building blocks of chromatin...

Why do most cross-species virus jumps fail? Using Orsay virus across multiple Caenorhabditis species, this study reveals how mismatches in replication, genome balance, and transmission create layered ...

Abstract. When researchers want to test for a direct effect of one attribute on another using interspecific data, they need to account for the confounding

The formation of metaphase chromosomes requires the activity of condensins, DNA translocases that reduce chromosomal length through the process of loop extrusion. Reduction of length, however, does no...

Author summary The external surfaces of many organisms are decorated with regularly spaced protruding structures such as hairs, bristles, scales, and ridges. These structures play important roles in s...

Author summary Large-scale datasets of multiple genome sequences from a single species are increasingly available. Computer simulations of complex population genetic models are essential for making se...

Mitotic cells produce three EV types: exosomes and microvesicles (green/blue) delivering pre-formed molecules, and midbody remnants (magenta) containing functional ribosomes and translation machinery...

In Drosophila, cell fate switching in adult intestinal stem cells is determined through an epigenetic mechanism in which these cells count divisions, switching from producing enterocytes to producing ...

In avocado and certain wild relatives in Lauraceae, a highly synchronized daily rhythm of floral sex timing promotes cross-pollination between two ...

Dauer larvae are a dormant developmental stage in nematodes that is induced by a range of environmental cues. The molecular mechanisms that transduce these cues to regulate dauer entry have been well ...

Caenorhabditis nematodes are a powerful model clade for evolutionary genetics. Isogenic lines and panels of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) are among the most essential tools for genetic studies in th...

What makes a game liberating to play is also what makes it stifling and oppressive: in both cases it’s because the...

The cytoplasm of vertebrate cells is compartmentalized into the cytosol and several messenger RNA (mRNA)-scaffolded condensates, present at steady-state conditions and in the absence of stress. They i...

Abstract. Caenorhabditis nematodes provide three natural experiments in which a male/female species evolved to produce one with males and self-fertile herm

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

The updated OrthoFinder v3 software boosts accuracy and scalability in phylogenetic orthology inference with massive and diverse datasets.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

Abstract. Safeguarding the genome from non-self elements is essential for development, reproduction, and ageing. One of the major threats to genomic integr

Abstract. Evolutionary “fitness” is operationalized in many different ways in models. Its role is to quantify that which is favored by natural selection. G

Abstract. For more than a century, scientists have worked to characterize, understand, and predict the consequences of mutations. For almost as long, scien

In Principles of Neural Design (2015, MIT Press), inspired by Charles Darwin, Sterling and Laughlin undertook the unfashionable task of distilling principles from facts in the technique-driven, data-s...

This study identifies a direct causal link between a specific bacterial gene and host reproductive fitness. Systematic screening of Escherichia coli mutants showed that deleting one gene severely impa...