Behavioural isolation may lead to complete speciation when partial postzygotic isolation acts in the presence of divergent specific mate recognition systems. These conditions exist where Mus musculus musculus and M. m. domesticus come into contact and hybridize. We studied two mate recognition signal systems, based on urinary and salivary proteins, across a Central European portion of the mouse hybrid zone. Introgression of the genomic regions responsible for these signals: the major urinary proteins (MUPs) and...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Weeds cause considerable environmental and economic damage. However, genomic characterization of weeds has lagged behind that of model plants and crop species. Here we report on the development of genomic tools and resources for 11 weeds from the Compositae family that will serve as a basis for subsequent population and comparative genomic analyses. Because hybridization has been suggested as a stimulus for the evolution of invasiveness, we also analyze these genomic...

Non-cotton host plants without Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins can provide refuges that delay resistance to Bt cotton in polyphagous insect pests. It has proven difficult, however, to determine the effective contribution of such refuges and their role in delaying resistance evolution. Here we used biogeochemical markers to quantify movement of Helicoverpa armigera moths from non-cotton hosts to cotton fields in three agricultural landscapes of the West African cotton belt (Cameroon) where Bt cotton was absent....

Polyploidy, the doubling of genomic content, is a widespread feature, especially among plants, yet its macro-evolutionary impacts are contentious. Traditionally, polyploidy has been considered an evolutionary dead-end, whereas recent genomic studies suggest that polyploidy has been a key driver of macro-evolutionary success. Here we examine the consequences of polyploidy on the time scale of genera across a diverse set of vascular plants, encompassing hundreds of inferred polyploidization events. Likelihood-based analyses indicate that polyploids generally exhibit...

Non-cotton host plants without Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins can provide refuges that delay resistance to Bt cotton in polyphagous insect pests. It has proven difficult, however, to determine the effective contribution of such refuges and their role in delaying resistance evolution. Here we used biogeochemical markers to quantify movement of Helicoverpa armigera moths from non-cotton hosts to cotton fields in three agricultural landscapes of the West African cotton belt (Cameroon) where Bt cotton was absent....

Polyploidy, the doubling of genomic content, is a widespread feature, especially among plants, yet its macro-evolutionary impacts are contentious. Traditionally, polyploidy has been considered an evolutionary dead-end, whereas recent genomic studies suggest that polyploidy has been a key driver of macro-evolutionary success. Here we examine the consequences of polyploidy on the time scale of genera across a diverse set of vascular plants, encompassing hundreds of inferred polyploidization events. Likelihood-based analyses indicate that polyploids generally exhibit...

Behavioural isolation may lead to complete speciation when partial postzygotic isolation acts in the presence of divergent specific mate recognition systems. These conditions exist where Mus musculus musculus and M. m. domesticus come into contact and hybridize. We studied two mate recognition signal systems, based on urinary and salivary proteins, across a Central European portion of the mouse hybrid zone. Introgression of the genomic regions responsible for these signals: the major urinary proteins (MUPs) and...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Weeds cause considerable environmental and economic damage. However, genomic characterization of weeds has lagged behind that of model plants and crop species. Here we report on the development of genomic tools and resources for 11 weeds from the Compositae family that will serve as a basis for subsequent population and comparative genomic analyses. Because hybridization has been suggested as a stimulus for the evolution of invasiveness, we also analyze these genomic...