389 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.
This paper proposes that the modern genetic code evolved from a primordial comma-free subcode, utilizing the concept of "compatible comma-free codes" to explain how a doublet-to-triplet transition could occur without freezing code evolution, a hypothesis supported by the identification of optimal candidates that align with modern wobble rules.
This study demonstrates that the allorecognition gene complex (ARC) in hydrozoans is structurally and syntenically conserved across major cnidarian lineages, providing evidence that this system predates the divergence of cnidarians and may be homologous to the vertebrate major histocompatibility complex (MHC).
Using a dynamical systems framework, this paper demonstrates that phagocytosis can evolve from a cooperative microbial community and coexist with its original members, ultimately leading to a stable ecosystem comprising two cooperators and a pure predator.
This study utilizes a chromosome-level genome of the corallimorpharian *Ricordea yuma* to confirm its status as the sister group to stony corals, thereby revealing that coral calcification evolved through the emergence of a specialized calicoblast cell state and the assembly of a biomineralization toolkit from both lineage-specific innovations and co-opted ancestral genes.
This study demonstrates that the eIF2-binding surface of human PKR is highly malleable, allowing genetic variants to broadly evade a diverse array of viral pseudosubstrate inhibitors by exploiting common features while maintaining protein function and avoiding new vulnerabilities.
EXCON is a scalable, automated Nextflow pipeline that streamlines the entire workflow for CAFE-based gene family expansion and contraction analysis—from genome preprocessing and ortholog identification to birth-death modeling and functional enrichment—enabling reproducible evolutionary comparative genomics with minimal user configuration.
This study evaluates Mexico's initial application of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's genetic diversity indicators, revealing that while these metrics uncover hidden genetic vulnerabilities in non-threatened species and crop wild relatives, the primary challenge for scaling such monitoring lies in integrating existing data to foster collaboration among researchers, communities, and government institutions rather than merely generating new data.
This paper introduces a stochastic simulation framework combined with Approximate Bayesian Computation to accurately infer bacterial mutation rates and fitness effects in complex scenarios where traditional mathematical models fail due to restrictive assumptions like cell death and variable growth rates.
This study reveals that apple domestication reshaped defense-associated regulatory networks and modified the adaptive landscape for aphids, resulting in cultivated apples having stronger inducible defenses but supporting higher aphid performance compared to wild relatives that rely more on constitutive resistance.
This study integrates theoretical models and experimental data from budding yeast to demonstrate that widespread random epistasis can generate systematic patterns of cross-environment pleiotropy, thereby shaping long-term evolutionary tradeoffs in fluctuating environments.