295 papers
Evolutionary biology explores the dynamic history of life on Earth, tracing how species change, adapt, and diversify over time. This field investigates the mechanisms driving everything from the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria to the complex social behaviors of primates, revealing the deep connections that bind all living organisms together.
On Gist.Science, we ensure these groundbreaking discoveries remain accessible by processing every new preprint uploaded to bioRxiv in this category. Our team generates both plain-language overviews and detailed technical summaries for each paper, bridging the gap between raw research and public understanding without requiring a specialized background.
Below are the latest studies in evolutionary biology, offering fresh insights into the ongoing story of life.
The paper introduces LAVA, a Bayesian R-based method that improves the detection of local and global adaptation in structured populations by comparing ancestral additive genetic variance estimates to overcome the high false positive rates of traditional Qst-Fst comparisons caused by unequal subpopulation relatedness.
A comprehensive meta-analysis of 86 years of experimental infection data reveals that bats suffer from viral diseases with severity and mortality rates indistinguishable from rodents, challenging the prevailing hypothesis that bats possess a unique, disease-tolerant immunity that makes them exceptional reservoirs for zoonotic viruses.
Through simulations and real data analysis, this paper demonstrates that the Generalized Least Squares (GLS) method outperforms the General Random Walk (GRW) model for inferring directional evolution in sparse fossil data with significant measurement errors, as GRW struggles to reliably estimate step variances and often collapses into deterministic processes.
This study proposes that bacterial strain diversity acts as a barrier to the chromosomal integration of antibiotic resistance genes, allowing plasmid-borne resistance to transiently dominate populations for decades and explaining why mobile resistance remains prevalent despite theoretical predictions favoring stable chromosomal inheritance.
By investigating the cnidarian *Hydra vulgaris*, this study reveals that genome expansion paradoxically preserves ancestral metazoan synteny by creating entangled long-range regulatory contacts that impose functional constraints, thereby decelerating chromosomal rearrangements.
This study reveals that following an ancestral gene duplication, vertebrate DSCAM and DSCAML1 paralogs underwent distinct evolutionary trajectories characterized by differential selective pressures and motif repertoires in their intracellular domains, driving functional divergence that likely shaped molecular mechanisms underlying vertebrate neural development.
This study reveals that rapid chromosomal rearrangements, including a high rate of inversions and distinct mechanisms of sex chromosome turnover, drive reproductive isolation and speciation between the parapatric Pacific mackerels *Scomber japonicus* and *S. australasicus*.
By integrating comparative genomics, evolutionary rate covariation, and natural selection signatures, this study reveals that the IL-17 family has evolved under lineage-specific pressures to support a complex network of both immune and non-immune functions, including novel ligand-receptor interactions and neurodevelopmental roles.
By integrating ancient DNA selection signals with modern genomic data, this study reveals that natural selection over the last 10,000 years has upregulated the human immune system to better combat infectious diseases, resulting in a protective effect against infections but an increased risk for certain autoimmune and inflammatory conditions.
This study establishes a new experimental framework to demonstrate that cave-dwelling *Astyanax mexicanus* exhibit evolved microglial differences, including increased cell numbers, distinct inflammatory responses, and enhanced lysosomal activity, which likely underpin their unique neuroimmune adaptations compared to surface populations.