Central American and Caribbean population history of the Pseudocercospora fijiensis fungus responsible for the latest worldwide pandemics on banana.

Among the emerging fungal diseases threatening food security, the Pseudocercospora fijiensis fungus causing black leaf streak disease of banana is one of the most marked examples of a recent worldwide pandemic on a major crop. We assessed how this pathogen spread throughout the latest invaded region, i.e.

Author Correction: Genomes of all known members of a Plasmodium subgenus reveal paths to virulent human malaria.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Population structure, connectivity, and demographic history of an apex marine predator, the bull shark .

Knowledge of population structure, connectivity, and effective population size remains limited for many marine apex predators, including the bull shark . This large-bodied coastal shark is distributed worldwide in warm temperate and tropical waters, and uses estuaries and rivers as nurseries. As an apex predator, the bull shark likely plays a vital ecological role within marine food webs, but is at risk due to inshore habitat degradation and various fishing pressures.

Plasmodium vivax-like genome sequences shed new insights into Plasmodium vivax biology and evolution.

Although Plasmodium vivax is responsible for the majority of malaria infections outside Africa, little is known about its evolution and pathway to humans. Its closest genetic relative, P. vivax-like, was discovered in African great apes and is hypothesized to have given rise to P.

Genomes of all known members of a Plasmodium subgenus reveal paths to virulent human malaria.

Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent agent of human malaria, shares a recent common ancestor with the gorilla parasite Plasmodium praefalciparum. Little is known about the other gorilla- and chimpanzee-infecting species in the same (Laverania) subgenus as P. falciparum, but none of them are capable of establishing repeated infection and transmission in humans.

Expanding the view on the evolution of the nematode dauer signalling pathways: refinement through gene gain and pathway co-option.

Background: Signalling pathways underlie development, behaviour and pathology. To understand patterns in the evolution of signalling pathways, we undertook a comprehensive investigation of the pathways that control the switch between growth and developmentally quiescent dauer in 24 species of nematodes spanning the phylum.

Results: Our analysis of 47 genes across these species indicates that the pathways and their interactions are not conserved throughout the Nematoda.

Haemosporidian Parasites of Antelopes and Other Vertebrates from Gabon, Central Africa.

Re-examination, using molecular tools, of the diversity of haemosporidian parasites (among which the agents of human malaria are the best known) has generally led to rearrangements of traditional classifications. In this study, we explored the diversity of haemosporidian parasites infecting vertebrate species (particularly mammals, birds and reptiles) living in the forests of Gabon (Central Africa), by analyzing a collection of 492 bushmeat samples. We found that samples from five mammalian species (four duiker and one pangolin species), one bird and one turtle species were infected by haemosporidian parasites.

Introgressive hybridization and latitudinal admixture clines in North Atlantic eels.

Background: Hybridization, the interbreeding of diagnosably divergent species, is a major focus in evolutionary studies. Eels, both from North America and Europe migrate through the Atlantic to mate in a vast, overlapping area in the Sargasso Sea. Due to the lack of direct observation, it is unknown how these species remain reproductively isolated.

Unravelling parasitic nematode natural history using population genetics.

The health and economic importance of parasitic nematodes cannot be overstated. Moreover, they offer a complex and diverse array of life strategies, raising a multitude of evolutionary questions. Researchers are applying population genetics to parasitic nematodes in order to disentangle some aspects of their life strategies, improve our knowledge about disease epidemiology, and design control strategies.