Ecology Splits Genomes

Evolution and ecology, after the malaria genomes

The first of the three genomes responsible for malaria was published last year; with the recent and much hyped publication of parasite and vector genomes in Nature and Science respectively, the life-cycle triad is now complete. The genomes and associated papers demonstrate that evolutionary biologists and ecologists have much to contribute to malaria control – and to the unravelling of some ver...

Killer splits

Although killer whales showed overall low levels of mitochondrial sequence variation, the researchers found three fixed differences between the open-sea type A whales compared with the two ice-inhabiting, other forms. " The genetic pattern suggests that, for females at least, there is no gene flow between them, " the authors write. But they do point out that the evidence for reproductive isolat...

The Ecology of Acidobacteria: Moving beyond Genes and Genomes

The phylum Acidobacteria is one of the most widespread and abundant on the planet, yet remarkably our knowledge of the role of these diverse organisms in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems remains surprisingly rudimentary. This blatant knowledge gap stems to a large degree from the difficulties associated with the cultivation of these bacteria by classical means. Given the phylogenetic b...

Animal splits

of protein for the mountain pygmy possum, a tiny 45 g possum and the only mammal unique to alpine and subalpine areas of Australia. Pygmy possums have a range totalling less than ten square kilometres and almost entirely coincident with Australian ski resorts, so it is perhaps fortuitous for them that they hibernate during the winter. Winter-active mammals, like the dusky antechinus (a carnivor...

Matroids from hypersimplex splits