Numerous insertions of mitochondrial DNA in the genome of the northern mole vole, Ellobius talpinus.

Background: Ellobius talpinus is a subterranean rodent representing an attractive model in population ecology studies due to its highly special lifestyle and sociality. In such studies, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is widely used. However, if nuclear copies of mtDNA, aka NUMTs, are present, they may co-amplify with the target mtDNA fragment, generating misleading results.

Choose Wisely: Great Variation among Genotypes of Promising Paludiculture Crop .

Measures mitigating the climate crisis, such as paludiculture, which is the agriculture on rewetted peatlands, are urgently needed. The cosmopolitan species has the potential to be used in paludiculture worldwide but is known for its high intraspecific variation. This raises the questions of whether (i) genotypes differ even at a regional scale, making them differently well suited for paludiculture and (ii) performance can be predicted by linking the variation in genotypes to strategies in the plant economics spectrum.