New Insights into the Dynamics of Microbial Communities

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, within the Department of Theoretical Biology, characterized a recently discovered dynamical regime of microbial communities and used it to explain empirical patterns of marine plankton. There, strong and diverse interactions, combined with weak dispersal, fuel a continuous turnover of the small set of very abundant species, such that success is ephemeral and every species is equivalent in alternating between rarity and dominance.

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Ways to achieve a peaceful co-existence with genomic parasites

Transposable elements are mobile genetic elements that can relocate within the genome and disrupt the normal function of genes, but are at the same time a source of evolutionary diversity. The lab of Tugce Aktas at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics has identified a novel pathway that keeps the activity of transposons in somatic cells in check after they have been transcribed. Their findings have now been published in Nature. The work is a collaboration with the labs of Zachary D. Smith (Yale Stem Cell Center, USA) and Franz-Josef Müller (Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)

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Use it or lose it: How seagrasses conquered the sea

26.01.2024/Ghent/Groningen/Kiel/Naples. Seagrasses provide the foundation of one of the most highly biodiverse, yet vulnerable, coastal marine ecosystems globally. They arose in three independent lineages from their freshwater ancestors some 100 million years ago and are the only fully submerged, marine flowering plants. Moving to such a radically different environment is a rare evolutionary event and definitely not easy. How did they do it? New reference quality genomes provide important clues with relevance to their conservation and biotechnological application.

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Biodiversity below ground: New comprehensive genome data on soil invertebrates provide insights into their biodiversity

They are tiny, enormously diverse, and widespread in the soil: soil invertebrates such as springtails, horn mites, millipedes, and nematodes. These animals, which are often only visible under a microscope, fulfil important tasks in the soil ecosystem. This is why they are increasingly becoming the focus of official measures to preserve biodiversity in the soil. With the „MetaInvert“ project, scientists are providing extensive genomic data on 232 species of these previously little-studied organisms. The information contributes significantly to the identification and knowledge of community composition and function and the discovery of evolutionary adaptations to environmental conditions.

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Evolution of taste: Sharks were already able to perceive bitter substances

New genetic data show that humans and sharks share bitter taste receptors, even though their evolutionary pathways separated nearly 500 million years ago / Published in ‘PNAS’

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Coronavirus: Model can predict the evolution of new covid variants

Evolutionary information can support the design of targeted vaccines / publication in the scientific journal ‘Cell’

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Evolutionary history of three-finger snake toxins decoded

Snakebites cause around 100,000 deaths worldwide every year. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have investigated how the toxin emerged between 50 and 120 million years ago through the modification of a gene that also occurs in mammals and other reptiles. The results could help with the development of better snakebite treatments and lead to new knowledge for the treatment of illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

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Darwin or Kimura – Natural Selection or Pure Chance? New literature review aims to clarify a heated debate

Some of nature’s mysteries have kept scientists busy for decades – for example, the processes which drive evolution. The question of whether certain differences between and within species are caused by natural selection or by chance processes divides evolutionary biologists even today. An international team of researchers has teased apart a scientific debate concerning the evolutionary theories of Darwin and the Japanese geneticist Kimura. Their conclusion: the debate is unnecessarily convoluted by the co-existence of different interpretations.

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Male crested macaques more likely to respond to offspring screams recruiting support

When infants are involved in agonistic conflicts, male crested macaques (Macaca nigra) are more likely to respond to screams from their own offspring. This is the conclusion of a recent study led by behavioural ecologist Professor Anja Widdig from Leipzig University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig as part of the Macaca Nigra Project (MNP). The researchers studied the behaviour of crested macaques in the Tangkoko Nature Reserve on Sulawesi, Indonesia, over a 24-month period (2008 to 2010).

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Various evolutionary forces shape the human skeleton

Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen explores skeletal features as an alternative to DNA analysis

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Evolving viruses to fight bacterial infections

Multidrug-resistant bacterial infections are one of the most pressing issues in medicine, a situation that is only expected to worsen in the coming decades. The problem is being addressed not only by developing new antibiotics but also by studying antibiotic alternatives, such as phages. Among them is the Microbial Molecular Evolution Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön.

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New insights into the evolution of the plague pathogen

– Joint press release by Kiel University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön –

A research team from Kiel University and MPI-EB identifies genetic factors that were acquired by the pathogen Yersinia pestis during its recent evolution and contribute to our understanding of the emergence of the modern plague pandemic in the 19th century

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Patterns of biodiversity unveiled

Understanding the origins and preservation of biodiversity is crucial as human impact continues to threaten our planet’s rich variety of life. Often overlooked, narrow-ranged and evolutionary unique species play a vital role in shaping biodiversity. Their concentrated presence, quantified as phylogenetic endemism, reveals important centers of biogeographic and evolutionary history. A new study led by a team of international researchers at the University of Göttingen has now uncovered global patterns and factors influencing phylogenetic endemism in seed plants, providing invaluable insights for conservation efforts worldwide. The findings were published in PNAS.

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Scientists discover ‘lost world’ of our early ancestors in billion-year-old rocks

Newly discovered biomarker signatures point to a whole range of previously unknown organisms that dominated complex life on Earth about a billion years ago. They differed from complex eukaryotic life as we know it, such as animals, plants and algae in their cell structure and likely metabolism, which was adapted to a world that had far less oxygen in the atmosphere than today. Benjamin Nettersheim from the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen and Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Bremen and an international team of researchers now report on this breakthrough for the field of evolutionary geobiology in the journal Nature.

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African rhinos share retroviruses not found in Asian rhinos or other related species

Rhinoceros belong to a mammalian order called odd-toed ungulates that also include horses and tapirs. They are found in Africa and Asia. Until recently, evidence suggested that throughout their evolutionary history, gammaretroviruses such as Murine leukemia virus had not colonised their genomes, unlike most other mammalian orders.

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Scientists “revive” Stone Age molecules

Breakthroughs in ancient genome reconstruction and biotechnology are now revealing the rich molecular secrets of Paleolithic microorganisms. In a new study published in Science, a transdisciplinary team of researchers led by the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and Harvard University reconstructed bacterial genomes of previously unknown bacteria dating to the Pleistocene. Using their genetic blueprints, they built a biotechnology platform to revive the ancient bacteria’s natural products.

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Genetic heritage from the Stone Age influences our chance to have a long life

Researchers at Kiel University have studied the evolutionary history of the longevity gene APOE. To do this, they analysed data obtained from human skeletons that are up to 12,000 years old.

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New eyes discovered in trilobites

Researchers at the Universities of Cologne and Edinburgh have detected previously overlooked eyes whose form and function could help to improve the evolutionary classification of archaic arthropods / publication in ‘Scientific Reports – Nature’

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How fishermen benefit from reversing evolution of cod

Intense fishing and overexploitation have led to evolutionary changes in fish stocks like cod, reducing both their productivity and value on the market. These changes can be reversed by more sustainable and far-sighted fisheries management. The new study by researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig University and the Institute of Marine Research in Tromsø, which was published in Nature Sustainability, shows that reversal of evolutionary change would only slightly reduce the profit of fishing, but would help regain and conserve natural genetic diversity.

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The dual face of photoreceptors during seed germination

Seed germination depends on light in many plants. But not always: Aethionema arabicum, a plant adapted to challenging environmental conditions, does it its own way. Here, the phytochromes, the receptors for red and far-red light, play an unexpected role in seed germination and time this process to the optimal season. These findings, now published in “Plant Physiology”, are a compelling example of the evolutionary rewiring of signaling modules that help plants adapt to their habitats. The study was led by researchers at the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

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Genetic switch makes the eyes of male bees large and of female bees small

Biology: Publication in Nature Communications

Bee researchers at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) headed by Professor Dr Martin Beye have identified a new gene in honeybees, which is responsible for the dimorphic eye differentiation between males and females of the species. The researchers have now presented this gene and the evolutionary genetic conclusions they have drawn from it in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

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Autophagy: The molecular regulation of self-eating

Autophagy, or “self-eating”, is an essential cellular quality control mechanism that clears the cell of protein aggregates and damaged organelles. This mechanism is inactive under normal conditions and only triggered upon persistent cellular stress. Researchers from the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Max Perutz Labs uncover a molecular switch that regulates autophagy in plants. Combining evolutionary analysis with a mechanistic experimental approach, they demonstrate that this regulatory mechanism is conserved in eukaryotes. The findings were published on February 10th in the EMBO Journal.

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1 billion years of abstinence: chloroplasts finally can hope for sex!

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam (Germany) analyzed the inheritance of chloroplasts under different environmental conditions in almost 4 million tobacco plants. Contrary to the prevailing view that chloroplasts are only passed on by the mother plant, paternal chloroplasts can also be transmitted to the offspring under cold conditions, raising the possibility that the chloroplasts of the two parents exchange genetic material with each other. The new findings will facilitate the targeted use of chloroplast-encoded traits in plant breeding, and they also open up new perspectives for evolutionary research. The study was published in Nature Plants.

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Extraordinary flight artists. Hummingbird’s hovering flight likely evolved because of a lost gene

Hummingbirds, native to North and South America, are among the smallest and most agile birds in the world. Often barely larger than a thumb, they are the only bird species that can fly not only forwards, but also backwards or sideways. Their characteristic hovering flight makes that possible. However, hovering is extremely energy-demanding. In a genomic study published in the journal Science, an international team of scientists led by Prof. Michael Hiller at the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE-TBG) in Frankfurt, Germany, investigated the evolutionary adaptations of the metabolism that may have enabled the hummingbirds‘ unique flying abilities.

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Two-billion-year-old enzyme reconstructed – Detective work by molecular biologists and bioinformatics researchers

Basic researchers at Leipzig University have solved a puzzle in the evolution of bacterial enzymes. By reconstructing a candidate for a special RNA polymerase as it existed about two billion years ago, they were able to explain a hitherto puzzling property of the corresponding modern enzymes. Unlike their ancestors, they do not work continuously and are thus significantly more effective – these pauses in activity constitute evolutionary progress. The reconstruction of the protein from prehistoric times was made possible thanks to interdisciplinary cooperation between molecular biochemistry and bioinformatics.

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