Arthropods are the most successful group of animals, and are found in diverse habitats; they account for more than 80% of described animal species. A rigid exoskeleton is a common feature that is shared across the different groups of arthropods. The exoskeleton offers protection and is shed between developmental stages via a unique evolutionarily conserved process known as molting/ecdysis. Molt...

Genome sequencing has demonstrated that besides frequent small-scale duplications, large-scale duplication events such as whole genome duplications (WGDs) are found on many branches of the evolutionary tree of life. Especially in the plant lineage, there is evidence for recurrent WGDs, and the ancestor of all angiosperms was in fact most likely a polyploid species. The number of WGDs found in s...

Here we assess the fitness consequences of the replacement of the Hoxa1 coding region with its paralog Hoxb1 in mice (Mus musculus) residing in semi-natural enclosures. Previously, this Hoxa1B1 swap was reported as resulting in no discernible embryonic or physiological phenotype (i.e., functionally redundant), despite the 51% amino acid sequence differences between these two Hox proteins. Withi...

Maianthemum (Ruscaceae) comprises 28-38 species and includes the two traditionally recognized genera: Maianthemum sensu stricto and Smilacina. Thirty-seven samples representing 22 species of Maianthemum and six closely related outgroup taxa were sequenced for eight chloroplast and nuclear markers (trnL-F, rps16, rpl16, psbA-trnH, rbcL, ndhF, trnK, and ITS) with a total length of nearly 10,000 b...

Drug design efforts are turning to a new generation of therapeutic targets, such as protein-protein interactions (PPIs), that had previously been considered "undruggable" by typical small molecules. There is an emerging view that accessing these targets will require molecules that are larger and more complex than typical small molecule drugs. Here, we present a methodology for the discovery of ...

The G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling system is one of the main signaling pathways in eukaryotes. Here, we analyze the evolutionary history of all its components, from receptors to regulators, to gain a broad picture of its system-level evolution. Using eukaryotic genomes covering most lineages sampled to date, we find that the various components of the GPCR signaling pathway evolved ...

A classic question in evolutionary biology concerns the tempo and mode of lineage evolution. Considered variously in relation to resource utilization, intrinsic constraints or hierarchic level, the question of how evolutionary change occurs in general has continued to draw the attention of the field for over a century and a half. Here we use the largest species-level phylogeny of Coenozoic foss...

Goal: The motivation of this paper is to forge and foster an insightful comprehensive understanding social media potential its possible impact on Ghana Commercial Bank employees’ performance. Design / Methodology Approach: Five cities were strategically sampled using convenient sampling technique represent the various diversifications in corporate compositions. Data was collected from 249 worke...

Abstract Portfolio managements in financial markets involve risk management strategies and opportunistic responses to individual trading behaviours. Optimal portfolios constructed aim have a minimal with highest accompanying investment returns, regardless of market conditions. This paper focuses on providing an alternative view maximising portfolio returns using Reinforcement Learning (RL) by c...

The Hengduan Mountains region (HMR) on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, supports a high diversity of herbs, particularly in its subalpine to alpine ecosystems, due altitude and cool temperate climate. Current understanding formation such herbaceous richness is based chiefly molecular phylogenies; however, direct geological evidence lacking because herbs are rarely preserved as macroscopic foss...