Positive selection can create false hotspots of recombination

Simulations of positive directional selection, under parameter values appropriate for approximating human genetic diversity and rates of recombination, reveal that the effects of strong selective sweeps on patterns of linkage disequilibrium (LD) mimic the pattern expected with recombinant hotspots.     

Social enhancement can create adaptive,arbitrary and maladaptive cultural traditions

Many animals are known to learn socially, i.e. they are able to acquire new behaviours by using information from other individuals. Researchers distinguish between a number of different social-learning mechanisms such as imitation and social enhancement. Social enhancement is a simple form of social learning that is among the most widespread in animals. However, unlike imitation, it is debated whether social enhancement can create cultural traditions. Based on a recent study on capuchin monkeys, we developed an agent-based model to test the hypotheses that (i) social enhancement can create and maintain stable traditions and (ii) social enhancement can create cultural conformity. Our results supported both hypotheses. A key factor that led to the creation of cultural conformity and traditions was the repeated interaction of individual reinforcement and social enhancement learning. This result emphasizes that the emergence of cultural conformity does not necessarily require cognitively complex mechanisms such as ‘copying the majority’ or group norms. In addition, we observed that social enhancement can create learning dynamics similar to a ‘copy when uncertain’ learning strategy. Results from additional analyses also point to situations that should favour the evolution of learning mechanisms more sophisticated than social enhancement.     

Mechanical forces used for cell fractionation can create hybrid membrane vesicles

The ability to understand the inner works of the cell requires methods for separation of intracellular membrane-enclosed compartments. Disruption of the plasma membrane (PM) by mechanical forces to investigate the content of the cell is common practice. Whether vesicles or membranes of different sources can fuse as a result is unclear. If such contamination occurs, conclusions based on these techniques should consider these. Utilizing an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane marker and a PM marker, we were able to detect the source of membranes following the breakup of cells using flow cytometry and immuno Electron Microscopy (immuno EM). Fractionation processes produced a small fraction of new membrane entities from two distinctively different origins generated during the initial disruption steps in a temperature independent manner, stressing that defining organelles or intrinsic fusion events based on such procedures and markers are valid when exceeding the small number of vesicles fused during the fractionation process.     

Physiological dependence on copulation in parthenogenetic females can reduce the cost of sex

Despite the two-fold reproductive advantage of asexual over sexual reproduction, the majority of eukaryotic species are sexual. Why sex is so widespread is still unknown and remains one of the most important unanswered questions in evolutionary biology. Although there are several hypothesized mechanisms for the maintenance of sex, all require assumptions that may limit their applicability. I suggest that the maintenance of sex may be aided by the detrimental retention of ancestral traits related to sexual reproduction in the asexual descendants of sexual taxa. This reasoning is based on the fact that successful reproduction in many obligately sexual species is dependent upon the behavioural, physical and physiological cues that accompany sperm delivery. More specifically, I suggest that although parthenogenetic (asexual) females have no need for sperm per se, parthenogens descended from sexual ancestors may not be able to reach their full reproductive potential in the absence of the various stimuli provided by copulatory behaviour. This mechanism is novel in assuming no intrinsic advantage to producing genetically variable offspring; rather, sex is maintained simply through phylogenetic constraint. I review and synthesize relevant literature and data showing that access to males and copulation increases reproductive output in both sexual and parthenogenetic females. These findings suggest that the current predominance of sexual reproduction, despite its well-documented drawbacks, could in part be due to the retention of physiological dependence on copulatory stimuli in parthenogenetic females.     

Allee effects can both conserve and create spatial heterogeneity in population densities

In order to determine conditions which allow the Allee effect (caused by biparental reproduction) to conserve and create spatial heterogeneity in population densities, we studied a deterministic model of a symmetric two-patch metapopulation. We proved that under certain conditions there exist stable equilibria with unequal population densities in the two patches, a situation which can be interpreted as conserved heterogeneity. Furthermore, the Allee effect can lead to instability of the equilibrium with equal population densities if some degree of competition is assumed to occur between the subpopulations (non-local competition). This indicates the potential of the Allee effect to create spatial heterogeneity. Neither of these effects appear under biologically realistic parameter values in a model where uniparental reproduction is assumed. We proved that both the between-patch migration intensity and the degree of non-local competition are decisive in determining boundaries between these types of behaviour of the spatial system with Allee effect. Therefore, we propose that the Allee effect, migration intensity, and non-local competition should be considered jointly in studies focusing on problems like pattern formation in space and invasions of spreading species.     

Aging exo-enzymes can create temporally shifting,temperature-dependent resource landscapes for microbes

The rate at which catalytic capacity of microbial exo-enzymes degrades post-exudation will influence the time during which return on microbes’ investment in exo-enzyme production can be realized. Further, if exo-enzyme degradation rates vary across exo-enzymes, microbial investment returns may vary by element across time. We quantify how aging of two soil organic matter (SOM)-decaying enzymes (β-D-cellobioside, BGase; and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminide, NAGase) influences enzyme-substrate V _max at multiple temperatures (5, 15, 25 °C), and compute how enzyme age influences relative availabilities of C and N. Both BGase and NAGase exhibited similar, exponential declines in catalytic rate with age at 25 °C (0.22 ± 0.02 and 0.36 ± 0.14 d^?1, respectively). At 15 °C, NAGase exhibited exponential declines in catalytic rates with age (0.79 ± 0.31 d^?1), but BGase exhibited no decline. Neither enzyme exhibited a decline in catalytic rate over 72 h at 5 °C. At 15 °C, the amount of C liberated from cellulose and chitin analogues relative to N increased, on average, by more than one order of magnitude. The ratio of C:N liberated from the two substrates remained constant across enzyme age at 25 and 5 °C, but for different reasons: no differences in decay rate across enzymes at 25 °C, and no observed decay at 5 °C. Thus, temperature-dependent decreases of catalytic activity over time may influence microbial resource allocation strategies and rates of SOM decomposition. Because the enzyme decay rates we observed differ considerably from values assumed in most models, such assumptions should be revisited when parameterizing microbial process models.     

Sexual selection favours male parental care, when females can choose

Explaining the evolution of male care has proved difficult. Recent theory predicts that female promiscuity and sexual selection on males inherently disfavour male care. In sharp contrast to these expectations, male-only care is often found in species with high extra-pair paternity and striking variation in mating success, where current theory predicts female-only care. Using a model that examines the coevolution of male care, female care and female choice; I show that inter-sexual selection can drive the evolution of male care when females are able to bias mating or paternity towards parental males. Surprisingly, female choice for parental males allows male care to evolve despite low relatedness between the male and the offspring in his care. These results imply that predicting how sexual selection affects parental care evolution will require further understanding of why females, in many species, either do not prefer or cannot favour males that provide care.     

Nuclear insertions of organellar DNA can create novel patches of functional exon sequences

Recent nuclear transfer of organellar DNA is thought to result mainly in nonfunctional nuclear sequences or in genetic dysfunction. Here we show that nuclear exons encoding novel protein sequences can be generated by insertions of organellar DNA. Most of the protein sequences do not correspond to preexisting organellar coding sequences or they represent markedly reshaped protein domains, reflecting the recruitment and adaptation of encoded proteins to new functions. Organelle-derived DNA insertions might be responsible for many more ancient functional exon acquisitions that are not directly detectable.     

Selection against lethal alleles in females heterozygous for incontinentia pigmenti.

Studies of five heterozygous females from three kindreds segregating incontinentia pigmenti indicate that cells expressing the mutation have been eliminated from skin fibroblast cultures and in varying degrees from hematopoietic tissues. Clonal analysis was carried out using G6PD variants and methylation patterns at the HPRT locus. Our results confirm X linkage in these families and suggest that selection against cells expressing mutations that are lethal to males in utero may help ameliorate the deleterious phenotype in carrier females.     

Selection on floral and carbon uptake traits of Lobelia siphilitica is similar in females and hermaphrodites

Sexual dimorphism is common in plants and animals. Although this dimorphism is often assumed to be adaptive, natural selection has rarely been measured on sexually dimorphic traits of plants. We measured phenotypic selection via seed set on two floral and four carbon uptake traits of female and hermaphrodite Lobelia siphilitica. Because females can reproduce only via seeds, which are costlier than pollen, we predicted that females with smaller flowers and enhanced carbon uptake would have higher fitness, resulting in either sex morph-specific directional selection or stabilizing selection for different optimal trait values in females and hermaphrodites. We found that directional selection on one carbon uptake trait differed between females and hermaphrodites. We did not detect significant stabilizing selection on traits of either sex morph. Our results provide little support for the hypothesis that sexual dimorphism in gynodioecious plants evolved in response to sex morph-specific selection.     

Selection by parasitoid females among closely related hosts based on volatiles: Identifying relevant chemical cues

Parasitoid fitness is influenced by the ability to overcome host defense strategies and by the ability of parasitoid females to select high‐quality host individuals. When females are unable to differentiate among hosts, their fitness will decrease with an increasing abundance of resistant hosts. To understand the effect of mixed host populations on female fitness, it is therefore necessary to investigate the ability of female parasitoids to select among hosts. Here, we used behavioral assays, headspace volatile collection, and electrophysiology to study the ability of Asecodes parviclava to use olfactory cues to select between a susceptible host (Galerucella calmariensis) and a resistant host (Galerucella pusilla) from a distance. Our studies show that parasitoid females have the capacity to distinguish the two hosts and that the selection behavior is acquired through experiences during earlier life stages. Further, we identified two volatiles (α‐terpinolene and [E]‐β‐ocimene) which amounts differ between the two plant–herbivore systems and that caused behavioral and electrophysiological responses. The consequence of this selection behavior is that females have the capacity to avoid laying eggs in G. pusilla, where the egg mortality is higher due to much stronger immune responses toward A. parviclava than in larvae of G. calmariensis.     

Invasive species distribution models – how violating the equilibrium assumption can create new insights

Aim Two core assumptions of species distribution models (SDMs) do not hold when modelling invasive species. Invasives are not in equilibrium with their environment and niche quantification and transferability in space and time are limited. Here, we test whether combining global‐ and regional‐scale data in a novel framework can overcome these limitations. Beyond simply improving regional niche modelling of non‐native species, the framework also makes use of the violation of regional equilibrium assumptions, and aims at estimating the stage of invasion, range filling and risk of spread in the near future for 27 invasive species in the French Alps. Innovation For each invader we built three sets of SDMs using a committee averaging method: one global model and two regional models (a conventional model and one using the global model output to weight pseudo‐absences). Model performances were compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, the true skill statistic, sensitivity and specificity scores. Then, we extracted the predictions for observed presences and compared them to global and regional models. This comparison made it possible to identify whether invasive species were observed within or outside of their regional and global niches. Main conclusions This study provides a novel methodological framework for improving the regional modelling of invasive species, where the use of a global model output to weight pseudo‐absences in a regional model significantly improved the predictive performance of regional SDMs. Additionally, the comparison of the global and regional model outputs revealed distinct patterns of niche estimates and range filling among the species. These differences allowed us to draw conclusions about the stage of invasion and the risk of spread in the near future, which both correspond to experts' expectations. This framework can be easily applied to a large number of species and is therefore useful for control of biological invasions and eradication planning.     

Proline can be utilized as an energy substrate during flight of Aedes aegypti females

In order to determine whether proline can be utilized as fuel during flight of Aedes aegypti, proline, alanine, and glutamine concentrations were monitored at 0, 30 and 60 min after flight using sugar-fed males and females, and blood meal-fed females. In sugar-fed and blood meal-fed females, flight lead to a significant decrease in proline and a significant increase in glutamine concentration in both hemolymph and thorax. Only during flight after a blood meal was a significant increase in the alanine concentration observed in hemolymph. After flight, the proline alanine and glutamine levels in the hemolymph and thorax from males did not change significantly. In addition, activities of enzymes related to amino acid metabolism were assayed in homogenates of cephalothorax and thorax from both sexes, and in fat body and midgut from females. In both sexes, the activities of all the enzymes studied were significantly higher in thorax than in cephalothorax. The levels of the enzymes involved in proline oxidation were higher in thorax than in fat body and midgut. These results suggest that proline can be used as an energy substrate for flight muscle of Ae. aegypti females. However, the elevation in glutamine levels observed in hemolymph and thorax after flight has not been reported in other insects that fuel flight using proline and may suggest an additional mechanism for shuttling ammonia between flight muscle and fat body is present in mosquitoes.     

Selection for multiple mating in females due to mates that reduce female fitness

If females are unable to discriminate among males before mating,remating by females that store sperm may have evolved as a hedgeagainst having only "costly" mates (less preferred males thatreduce her fitness). However, the benefit of remating is notguaranteed because she can also mate by chance with anothercostly male. We devised a model to explain the evolution offemale remating by representing female fitness as a functionof the proportion of costly mates. We examined the effect ofa linear, a concave-up, and a concave-down fitness functionand found that only the latter favors the evolution of femaleremating. With a concave-down function, females mating with50% costly mates have nearly the same fitness as do femaleswith none. A biological interpretation for a concave-down functionis that sperm from good males are better at competing with spermfrom costly males or are more preferred by females. A concave-upfunction implies the reverse, whereas a linear function willoccur when sperm are equally competitive. We review specificsituations in nature that might produce a concave-down functionand find evidence that sterility and intragenomic conflict aretwo phenomena capable of driving the evolution of female rematingby our model.     

Selection against accumulating mutations in niche-preference genes can drive speciation

Our current understanding of sympatric speciation is that it occurs primarily through disruptive selection on ecological genes driven by competition, followed by reproductive isolation through reinforcement-like selection against inferior intermediates/heterozygotes. Our evolutionary model of selection on resource recognition and preference traits suggests a new mechanism for sympatric speciation. We find speciation can occur in three phases. First a polymorphism of functionally different phenotypes is established through evolution of specialization. On the gene level, regulatory functions have evolved in which some alleles are conditionally switched off (i.e. are silent). These alleles accumulate harmful mutations that potentially may be expressed in offspring through recombination. Second mating associated with resource preference invades because harmful mutations in parents are not expressed in the offspring when mating assortatively, thereby dividing the population into two pre-zygotically isolated resource-specialist lineages. Third, silent alleles that evolved in phase one now accumulate deleterious mutations over the following generations in a Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller fashion, establishing a post-zygotic barrier to hybridization.     

Sperm competition games: the risk model can generate higher sperm allocation to virgin females

We examine the risk model in sperm competition games for cases where female fertility increases significantly with sperm numbers (sperm limitation). Without sperm competition, sperm allocation increases with sperm limitation. We define 'average risk' as the probability q that females in the population mate twice, and 'perceived risk' as the information males gain about the sperm competition probability with individual females. If males obtain no information from individual females, sperm numbers increase with q unless sperm limitation is high and one of the two competing ejaculates is strongly disfavoured. If males can distinguish between virgin and mated females, greater sperm allocation to virgins is favoured by high sperm limitation, high q, and by the second male's ejaculate being disfavoured. With high sperm limitation, sperm allocation to virgins increases and to mated females decreases with q at high q levels. With perfect information about female mating pattern, sperm allocation (i) to virgins that will mate again exceeds that to mated females and to virgins that will mate only once, (ii) to virgins that mate only once exceeds that for mated females if q is high and there is high second male disadvantage and (iii) to each type of female can decrease with q if sperm limitation is high, although the average allocation increases at least across low q levels. In general, higher sperm allocation to virgins is favoured by: strong disadvantage to the second ejaculate, high sperm limitation, high average risk and increased information (perceived risk). These conditions may apply in a few species, especially spiders.