The comparative analysis of lineage-pair traits.

For many questions in ecology and evolution, the most relevant data to consider are attributes of lineage pairs. Comparative tests for causal relationships among traits like 'diet niche overlap', 'divergence time', and 'strength of reproductive isolation (RI)' - measured for pairwise combinations of related species or populations - have led to several groundbreaking insights, but the correct statistical approach for these analyses has never been clear. Lineage-pair traits are non-independent, but unlike the expected covariance among species' traits, which is captured by a phylogenetic covariance matrix arising from a given model, the expected covariance among lineage-pair traits has not been explicitly formulated.

Mapping spp. in bats and cave ecosystems: evidence from midwestern Brazil.

Unlabelled: Caves serve as natural reservoirs for diverse microbial species due to their unique biotic and abiotic conditions. spp. is frequently associated with guano-enriched soil, low luminosity, and high humidity, particularly in Latin America, a region highly endemic for histoplasmosis.

Genomic epidemiology of in Africa.

Histoplasmosis, the disease caused by thermally dimorphic fungi in the genus , is usually associated with pulmonary involvement in healthy individuals and a disseminated syndrome in immunocompromised patients. Among African patients, lung disease is less commonly reported than skin, lymph node, or bone disease. Because different species or strains may be associated with different disease presentations and outcomes, understanding genetic and phenotypic variation in the genus is important for accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Signatures of soft selective sweeps predominate in the yellow fever mosquito .

The mosquito is a vector for human arboviruses and zoonotic diseases, such as yellow fever, dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, and as such poses a serious threat to public health. Understanding how adapts to environmental pressures-such as insecticides-is critical for developing effective mitigation strategies. However, most traditional methods for detecting recent positive selection search for signatures of classic "hard" selective sweeps, and to date no studies have examined soft sweeps in This represents a significant limitation as this is vital information for understanding the pace at which an organism can adapt-populations that are able to immediately respond to new selective pressures are expected to adapt more often via standing variation or recurrent adaptive mutations (both of which may produce soft sweeps) than via mutations (which produces hard sweeps).

Phylogenetic and functional diversity among -associated metagenome-assembled genomes.

Host-associated microbial communities can mediate interactions between their hosts and biotic and abiotic environments. While much work has been done to document how microbiomes vary across species and environments, much less is known about the functional consequences of this variation. Here, we test for functional variation among drosophilid-associated bacteria by conducting Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing and generating metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from communities associated with six species of drosophilid flies collected from "anthropogenic" environments in North America, Europe, and Africa.

High Genetic Diversity of Histoplasma in the Amazon Basin, 2006-2017.

Histoplasmosis is one of the most common pulmonary mycosis diseases in the world. Genome sequencing has revealed that Histoplasma, the cause of histoplasmosis, is composed of several phylogenetic species. The genetic diversity of the pathogen remains largely unknown, especially in the tropics.

High genetic diversity of in the Amazon basin, 2006-2017.

Genome sequencing has revealed that , the etiological agent of histoplasmosis is composed of several phylogenetic species. Nonetheless, the genetic diversity of the pathogen remains largely unknown, especially in the tropics. We sequenced the genome for 91 isolates from the Amazon basin, and used phylogenomics, and population genetic evidence to measure the genetic variation of the genus in South America.

Mapping Histoplasma in Bats and Cave Ecosystems: Evidence from Midwestern Brazil.

Unlabelled: Caves serve as natural reservoirs for diverse microbial species due to their unique biotic and abiotic conditions. spp. is frequently associated with guano-enriched soil, low luminosity, and high humidity, particularly in Latin America, a region highly endemic for histoplasmosis.

Secondary Sympatry as a Sorting Process.

A much remarked-upon pattern in nature is elevated trait disparity in sympatric relative to allopatric populations or species. Early explanations focused on secondary contact between allopatrically speciating taxa and emphasised adaptive divergence driven by costly interactions in sympatry (i.e.

Demographic History, Genetic Load, and the Efficacy of Selection in the Globally Invasive Mosquito Aedes aegypti.

Aedes aegypti is the main vector species of yellow fever, dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. The species is originally from Africa but has experienced a spectacular expansion in its geographic range to a large swath of the world, and the demographic effects of which have remained largely understudied. In this report, we examine whole-genome sequences from six countries in Africa, North America, and South America to investigate the demographic history of the spread of A.

The comparative analysis of lineage-pair traits.

A powerful but poorly understood analysis in ecology and evolutionary biology is the comparative study of lineage-pair traits. "Lineage-pair traits" are characters like 'diet niche overlap' and 'strength of reproductive isolation' that are defined for pairs of lineages instead of individual taxa. Comparative tests for causal relationships among such variables have led to groundbreaking insights in several classic studies, but the statistical validity of these analyses has been unclear due to the complex dependency structure of the data.

Autochthonous Blastomyces dermatitidis, India.

Blastomyces spp. fungi, the causal agent of blastomycosis, are common in North America but do occur in other areas of the world. The most prevalent pathogen in the genus is B.

Temperature affects conspecific and heterospecific mating rates in .

Behavioral mating choices and mating success are important factors in the development of reproductive isolation during speciation. Environmental conditions, especially temperature, can affect these key traits. Environmental conditions can vary across, and frequently delimit species' geographic ranges.

Ancestral neural circuits potentiate the origin of a female sexual behavior in Drosophila.

Courtship interactions are remarkably diverse in form and complexity among species. How neural circuits evolve to encode new behaviors that are functionally integrated into these dynamic social interactions is unknown. Here we report a recently originated female sexual behavior in the island endemic Drosophila species D.

Humidity and temperature preference in two Neotropical species of sand flies.

Background: Arthropods vector a multitude of human disease-causing organisms, and their geographic ranges are shifting rapidly in response to changing climatic conditions. This is, in turn, altering the landscape of disease risk for human populations that are brought into novel contact with the vectors and the diseases they carry. Sand flies in the genera Lutzomyia and Pintomyia are vectors of serious disease-causing agents such as Leishmania (the etiological agent of leishmaniasis) and may be expanding their range in the face of climate change.

Genotypic diversity, virulence, and molecular genetic tools in .

Histoplasmosis is arguably the most common fungal respiratory infection worldwide, with hundreds of thousands of new infections occurring annually in the United States alone. The infection can progress in the lung or disseminate to visceral organs and can be difficult to treat with antifungal drugs. , the causative agent of the disease, is a pathogenic fungus that causes life-threatening lung infections and is globally distributed.

Phenotypic characterization of cryptic species in the fungal pathogen .

Histoplasmosis is an endemic mycosis that often presents as a respiratory infection in immunocompromised patients. Hundreds of thousands of new infections are reported annually around the world. The etiological agent of the disease, is a dimorphic fungus commonly found in the soil where it grows as mycelia.

Demographic history and the efficacy of selection in the globally invasive mosquito .

is the main vector species of yellow fever, dengue, zika and chikungunya. The species is originally from Africa but has experienced a spectacular expansion in its geographic range to a large swath of the world, the demographic effects of which have remained largely understudied. In this report, we examine whole-genome sequences from 6 countries in Africa, North America, and South America to investigate the demographic history of the spread of into the Americas its impact on genomic diversity.

Tracing histoplasmosis genomic epidemiology and species occurrence across the USA.

Histoplasmosis is an endemic mycosis in North America frequently reported along the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, although autochthonous cases occur in non-endemic areas. In the United States, the disease is provoked by two genetically distinct clades of , (Nam1) and (Nam2). To bridge the molecular epidemiological gap, we genotyped 93 isolates (62 novel genomes) including clinical, environmental, and veterinarian samples from a broader geographical range by whole-genome sequencing, followed by evolutionary and species niche modelling analyses.

Phenotypic characterization of cryptic species in the fungal pathogen .

Histoplasmosis is an endemic mycosis that often presents as a respiratory infection in immunocompromised patients. Hundreds of thousands of new infections are reported annually around the world. The etiological agent of the disease, , is a dimorphic fungus commonly found in the soil where it grows as mycelia.

The spread of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) in the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe.

The mosquito Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) is a vector species of the causal agents of Dengue, yellow fever, and Zika among other diseases pathogens. The species originated in Southeast Asia and has spread widely and rapidly in the last century. The species has been reported in localities from the Gulf of Guinea since the early 2000s, but systematic sampling has been scant.

Aedes albopictus is present in the lowlands of southern Zambia.

Identifying the current geographic range of disease vectors is a critical first step towards determining effective mechanisms for controlling and potentially eradicating them. This is particularly true given that historical vector ranges may expand due to changing climates and human activity. The Aedes subgenus Stegomyia contains over 100 species, and among them, Ae.

Ancestral neural circuits potentiate the origin of a female sexual behavior.

Courtship interactions are remarkably diverse in form and complexity among species. How neural circuits evolve to encode new behaviors that are functionally integrated into these dynamic social interactions is unknown. Here we report a recently originated female sexual behavior in the island endemic species , where females signal receptivity to male courtship songs by spreading their wings, which in turn promotes prolonged songs in courting males.