A chromosomal inversion contributes to divergence in multiple traits between deer mouse ecotypes.

How locally adapted ecotypes are established and maintained within a species is a long-standing question in evolutionary biology. Using forest and prairie ecotypes of deer mice (), we characterized the genetic basis of variation in two defining traits-tail length and coat color-and discovered a 41-megabase chromosomal inversion linked to both. The inversion frequency is 90% in the dark, long-tailed forest ecotype; decreases across a habitat transition; and is absent from the light, short-tailed prairie ecotype.

Conservation and Innovation of APOBEC3A Restriction Functions during Primate Evolution.

LINE-1 (long interspersed element-1) retroelements are the only active autonomous endogenous retroelements in human genomes. Their retrotransposition activity has created close to 50% of the current human genome. Due to the apparent costs of this proliferation, host genomes have evolved multiple mechanisms to curb LINE-1 retrotransposition.

Niche engineering reveals complementary resource use.

Greater resource use by diverse communities might result from species occupying complementary niches. Demonstrating niche complementarity among species is challenging, however, due to the difficulty in relating differences between species in particular traits to their use of complementary resources. Here, we overcame this obstacle by exploiting plastic foraging behavior in a community of predatory insects common on Brassica oleracea plants in Washington, USA.