Synergistic coevolution accelerates genome evolution

Ecological interactions are key drivers of evolutionary change. Although it is welldocumented that antagonistic coevolution can accelerate molecular evolution, the evolutionary consequences of synergistic coevolution remain poorly understood. Here we show experimentally that also synergistic coevolution can speed up the rate of molecular evolution. Pairs of auxotrophic genotypes of the bacterium Escherichia coli, whose growth depended on a reciprocal exchange of amino acids, were experimentally coevolved, and compared to two control groups of independently growing cells. Coevolution drove the rapid emergence of a strong metabolic cooperation that correlated with a significantly increased number of mutations in coevolved auxotrophs as compared to monoculture controls. These results demonstrate that synergistic coevolution can cause rapid evolution that in the long run may drive diversification of mutualistically interacting species.

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Mistletoes in a changing world: a premonition of a non-analog future?

Botany ◽

10.1139/cjb-2019-0195 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 98 (9) ◽

pp. 479-488

Author(s):

Francisco E. Fontúrbel

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Changes ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Global Scale ◽

Ecological Interactions ◽

Human Disturbances ◽

Climate Change Effects ◽

Long Run ◽

Plant Animal Interactions ◽

Changing World

Mistletoes are a group of flowering plants that have developed a parasitic lifeform through complex eco-evolutionary processes. Despite being considered a pest, mistletoes represent a keystone forest resource and are involved in complex plant–plant and plant–animal interactions. Their parasitic lifeform and specialized ecological interactions make mistletoes an ideal model with which to understand the effects of anthropogenic disturbances in a changing world. The accelerated growth of the human population has altered all ecosystems on Earth, leading to biodiversity loss. Land-use changes (involving habitat loss, fragmentation, degradation, and transformation processes) can alter the ecological scenario for mistletoe by altering hosts, mutualists, and nutrient cycling. Those changes may have large consequences at the community level, changing the spatial structure of mistletoes, as well as interaction effectiveness, facilitation process, interaction disruption, and novel interactions with invasive species, leading to non-analog communities in the long run. Furthermore, climate change effects operate on a global scale, enhancing the effects of land-use changes. As temperatures increase, many species would alter their distribution and phenology, potentially causing spatial and temporal mismatches. But more critical is the fact that water stress is likely to disrupt key ecological interactions. Thus, mistletoes can provide valuable insights for what we can expect in the future, as a result of human disturbances.

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Metabolic excretion associated with nutrient-growth dysregulation promotes the rapid evolution of an overt metabolic defect

10.1101/498543 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Robin Green ◽

Sonal ◽

Lin Wang ◽

Samuel F.M. Hart ◽

Wenyun Lu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cell Death ◽

Cell Growth ◽

Slow Growth ◽

Rapid Evolution ◽

Auxotrophic Mutant ◽

Ecological Interactions ◽

Glucose Limitation ◽

Metabolic Defects ◽

Fitness Advantage ◽

Selection Of

AbstractIn eukaryotes, conserved mechanisms ensure that cell growth is coordinated with nutrient availability. Overactive growth during nutrient limitation (“nutrient-growth dysregulation”) can lead to rapid cell death. Here, we demonstrate that cells can adapt to nutrient-growth dysregulation by evolving major metabolic defects. Specifically, when yeast lysine auxotrophic mutant lys- encountered lysine limitation, an evolutionarily novel stress, cells suffered nutrient-growth dysregulation. A sub-population repeatedly evolved to lose the ability to synthesize organosulfurs (lys-orgS-). Organosulfurs, mainly glutathione and glutathione conjugates, were released by lys- cells during lysine limitation when growth was dysregulated, but not during glucose limitation when growth was regulated. Limiting organosulfurs conferred a frequency-dependent fitness advantage to lys-orgS- by eliciting a proper slow growth program including autophagy. Thus, nutrient-growth dysregulation is associated with rapid organosulfur release, which enables the selection of organosulfur auxotrophy to better tune cell growth to the metabolic environment. We speculate that evolutionarily novel stresses can trigger atypical release of certain metabolites, setting the stage for the evolution of new ecological interactions.

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Does Financial Inclusion Promote Human Development? Evidence from India

Jindal Journal of Business Research ◽

10.1177/22786821211045180 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 227868212110451

Author(s):

Neha Arora ◽

Naresh Kumar

Keyword(s):

Human Development ◽

Financial Inclusion ◽

Banking Services ◽

Indian Economy ◽

Long Run ◽

Speed Up ◽

Bound Test ◽

Hierarchy Process ◽

The Relationship ◽

Ardl Bound Test

The present study investigates the relationship between Financial Inclusion Index (FII) and Human Development Index (HDI) of Indian economy. The study developed FII for the Indian economy from 1991 to 2020 by using the dimensions of banking penetration, banking availability and usage of banking services. The well-known techniques of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is used to develop FII. The ARDL bound test confirms the existence of a long-run relationship between financial inclusion and human development. Granger non-causality confirms the existence of bidirectional causality between financial inclusion and human development. As financial inclusion acts as a key for human development, government should adopt policies to speed up the financial inclusion process in India.

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Evolution in interacting species alters predator life-history traits, behaviour and morphology in experimental microbial communities

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2020.0652 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 287 (1928) ◽

pp. 20200652

Author(s):

Johannes Cairns ◽

Felix Moerman ◽

Emanuel A. Fronhofer ◽

Florian Altermatt ◽

Teppo Hiltunen

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Prey Species ◽

Rapid Evolution ◽

Prey Type ◽

Automated Image Analysis ◽

Foraging Efficiency ◽

Predator Prey ◽

Evolving Systems ◽

Interacting Species ◽

Evolutionary Response

Predator–prey interactions heavily influence the dynamics of many ecosystems. An increasing body of evidence suggests that rapid evolution and coevolution can alter these interactions, with important ecological implications, by acting on traits determining fitness, including reproduction, anti-predatory defence and foraging efficiency. However, most studies to date have focused only on evolution in the prey species, and the predator traits in (co)evolving systems remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated changes in predator traits after approximately 600 generations in a predator–prey (ciliate–bacteria) evolutionary experiment. Predators independently evolved on seven different prey species, allowing generalization of the predator's evolutionary response. We used highly resolved automated image analysis to quantify changes in predator life history, morphology and behaviour. Consistent with previous studies, we found that prey evolution impaired growth of the predator, although the effect depended on the prey species. By contrast, predator evolution did not cause a clear increase in predator growth when feeding on ancestral prey. However, predator evolution affected morphology and behaviour, increasing size, speed and directionality of movement, which have all been linked to higher prey search efficiency. These results show that in (co)evolving systems, predator adaptation can occur in traits relevant to foraging efficiency without translating into an increased ability of the predator to grow on the ancestral prey type.

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Tradeoff Theory and Leverage Dynamics of High-Frequency Debt Issuers*

Review of Finance ◽

10.1093/rof/rfaa018 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

B Espen Eckbo ◽

Michael Kisser

Keyword(s):

High Frequency ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Debt Financing ◽

Trade Off ◽

Speed Of Adjustment ◽

Industrial Companies ◽

Long Run ◽

Speed Up ◽

Target Leverage ◽

Leverage Dynamics

Abstract We test whether high-frequency net-debt issuers (HFIs)—public industrial companies with relatively low issuance costs and high debt-financing benefits—manage leverage toward long-run targets. Our answer is they do not: (1) the leverage–profitability correlation is negative even in quarters with leverage rebalancing; (2) the speed-of-adjustment to target leverage deviations is no higher for HFIs than for low-frequency net-debt issuers; and (3) under-leveraged HFIs do not speed up rebalancing activity in significant investment periods. Thus, even in the subset of firms most likely to follow dynamic trade-off theory, the theory does not appear to hold.

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Has Social Security Policy Converged? Cross-Country Evolution of Old Age Benefits, 1890–2000

The Journal of Economic History ◽

10.1017/s0022050712000642 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 72 (4) ◽

pp. 927-955 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alexander Elu-Terán

Keyword(s):

Old Age ◽

Security Policy ◽

Social Insurance ◽

Welfare States ◽

Pension Policy ◽

Long Run ◽

Key Drivers ◽

Cross Country ◽

Social Security Policy ◽

Old Age Benefits

The extension of social insurance during the twentieth century did not translate into homogeneous pension provision. Using a new database, this article analyzes the evolution of pensions in the long run for a sample of welfare states. The convergence in old age benefits as a share of earnings is only found for all earnings levels between 1970 and 1990. The results also underline the role as determinants of pension policy of both domestic and external factors. In line with previous literature, income per capita and the share of old people are key drivers of pensions. However, the effect of globalization is negative, especially for low and medium earnings levels.

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Rapid evolution of cold tolerance in stickleback

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2010.0923 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 278 (1703) ◽

pp. 233-238 ◽

Cited By ~ 101

Author(s):

Rowan D. H. Barrett ◽

Antoine Paccard ◽

Timothy M. Healy ◽

Sara Bergek ◽

Patricia M. Schulte ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cold Tolerance ◽

Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Rapid Evolution ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Temperature Tolerance ◽

Ancestral Population ◽

Biological Communities ◽

Evolutionary Consequences ◽

Short Time

Climate change is predicted to lead to increased average temperatures and greater intensity and frequency of high and low temperature extremes, but the evolutionary consequences for biological communities are not well understood. Studies of adaptive evolution of temperature tolerance have typically involved correlative analyses of natural populations or artificial selection experiments in the laboratory. Field experiments are required to provide estimates of the timing and strength of natural selection, enhance understanding of the genetics of adaptation and yield insights into the mechanisms driving evolutionary change. Here, we report the experimental evolution of cold tolerance in natural populations of threespine stickleback fish ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ). We show that freshwater sticklebacks are able to tolerate lower minimum temperatures than marine sticklebacks and that this difference is heritable. We transplanted marine sticklebacks to freshwater ponds and measured the rate of evolution after three generations in this environment. Cold tolerance evolved at a rate of 0.63 haldanes to a value 2.5°C lower than that of the ancestral population, matching values found in wild freshwater populations. Our results suggest that cold tolerance is under strong selection and that marine sticklebacks carry sufficient genetic variation to adapt to changes in temperature over remarkably short time scales.

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The causes of extinction

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1989.0086 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 325 (1228) ◽

pp. 241-252 ◽

Cited By ~ 72

Keyword(s):

Fossil Record ◽

Species Turnover ◽

Rapid Evolution ◽

Taxonomic Diversity ◽

Species Selection ◽

Biotic Factors ◽

Taxonomic Distribution ◽

Interacting Species ◽

Fossil Evidence ◽

Different Types

A species may go extinct either because it is unable to evolve rapidly enough to meet changing circumstances, or because its niche disappears and no capacity for rapid evolution could have saved it. Although recent extinctions can usually be interpreted as resulting from niche disappearance, the taxonomic distribution of parthenogens suggests that inability to evolve may also be important. A second distinction is between physical and biotic causes of extinction. Fossil evidence for constant taxonomic diversity, combined with species turnover, implies that biotic factors have been important. A similar conclusion emerges from studies of recent introductions of predators, competitors and parasites into new areas. The term ‘species selection’ should be confined to cases in which the outcome of selection is determined by properties of the population as a whole, rather than of individuals. The process has been of only trivial importance in producing complex adaptations, but of major importance in determining the distribution of different types of organisms. An adequate interpretation of the fossil record requires a theory of the coevolution of many interacting species. Such a theory is at present lacking, but various approaches to it are discussed.

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Microevolutionary Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Plant-Animal Interactions

Advances in Ecology ◽

10.1155/2014/379267 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Francisco E. Fontúrbel ◽

Maureen M. Murúa

Keyword(s):

Habitat Fragmentation ◽

Ecological Interactions ◽

Fragmented Habitats ◽

Interacting Species ◽

Biodiversity Maintenance ◽

Selective Forces ◽

Plant Animal Interactions ◽

New Interactions ◽

Antagonistic Interactions

Plant-animal interactions are a key component for biodiversity maintenance, but they are currently threatened by human activities. Habitat fragmentation might alter ecological interactions due to demographic changes, spatial discontinuities, and edge effects. Also, there are less evident effects of habitat fragmentation that potentially alter selective forces and compromise the fitness of the interacting species. Changes in the mutualistic and antagonistic interactions in fragmented habitats could significantly influence the plant reproductive output and the fauna assemblage associated with. Fragmented habitats may trigger contemporary evolution processes and open new evolutionary opportunities. Interacting parties with a diffuse and asymmetric relationship are less susceptible to local extinction but more prone to evolve towards new interactions or autonomy. However, highly specialized mutualisms are likely to disappear. On the other hand, ecological interactions may mutually modulate their response in fragmented habitats, especially when antagonistic interactions disrupt mutualistic ones. Ecoevolutionary issues of habitat fragmentation have been little explored, but the empiric evidence available suggests that the complex modification of ecological interactions in fragmented habitats might lead to nonanalogous communities on the long term.

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