Holistic view of the seascape dynamics and environment impact on macro-scale genetic connectivity of marine plankton populations.

Background: Plankton seascape genomics studies have revealed different trends from large-scale weak differentiation to microscale structures. Previous studies have underlined the influence of the environment and seascape on species differentiation and adaptation. However, these studies have generally focused on a few single species, sparse molecular markers, or local scales.

Male Differentiation in the Marine Copepod Reveals the Development of a New Nervous Ganglion and Lin12-Notch-Repeat Protein-Associated Proteolysis.

Copepods are among the most numerous animals, and they play an essential role in the marine trophic web and biogeochemical cycles. The genus Oithona is described as having the highest density of copepods. The Oithona male paradox describes the activity states of males, which are obliged to alternate between immobile and mobile phases for ambush feeding and mate searching, respectively, while the female is less mobile and feeds less.

metaVaR: Introducing metavariant species models for reference-free metagenomic-based population genomics.

The availability of large metagenomic data offers great opportunities for the population genomic analysis of uncultured organisms, which represent a large part of the unexplored biosphere and play a key ecological role. However, the majority of these organisms lack a reference genome or transcriptome, which constitutes a technical obstacle for classical population genomic analyses. We introduce the metavariant species (MVS) model, in which a species is represented only by intra-species nucleotide polymorphism.

Investigating population-scale allelic differential expression in wild populations of (Cyclopoida, Claus, 1866).

Acclimation allowed by variation in gene or allele expression in natural populations is increasingly understood as a decisive mechanism, as much as adaptation, for species evolution. However, for small eukaryotic organisms, as species from zooplankton, classical methods face numerous challenges. Here, we propose the concept of allelic differential expression at the population-scale (psADE) to investigate the variation in allele expression in natural populations.

The Genetic Legacy of the Indian Ocean Slave Trade: Recent Admixture and Post-admixture Selection in the Makranis of Pakistan.

From the eighth century onward, the Indian Ocean was the scene of extensive trade of sub-Saharan African slaves via sea routes controlled by Muslim Arab and Swahili traders. Several populations in present-day Pakistan and India are thought to be the descendants of such slaves, yet their history of admixture and natural selection remains largely undefined. Here, we studied the genome-wide diversity of the African-descent Makranis, who reside on the Arabian Sea coast of Pakistan, as well that of four neighboring Pakistani populations, to investigate the genetic legacy, population dynamics, and tempo of the Indian Ocean slave trade.