Molecular evolution is the biological process encompassing changes in the nucleotide sequences of DNA or RNA and the amino acid sequences of proteins over time, driven by mutation, recombination, genetic drift, natural selection, and other population-level forces. It focuses on the rates and patterns of substitutions, insertions, deletions, and genome rearrangements, as well as the emergence of new genes and regulatory elements. Molecular evolution underlies divergence among species, functional innovation, and conservation of essential biomolecules, and is quantitatively analyzed using models of sequence evolution, comparative genomics, and phylogenetic inference to elucidate evolutionary relationships and constraints at the molecular level.
New research finds that the "silent" mutant male crickets of Hawaii, first observed more than 20 years ago, have now become well established across the Hawaiian islands, and that the reproductive challenges caused by a lack ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 8, 2026
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Researchers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have—in collaboration with colleagues from Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) in Munich—analyzed the complex biochemical processes that bacteria use to insert proteins ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 4, 2026
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56
In the study of bacteria, a longstanding dogma has held that two molecular machines—RNA polymerase, which leads the way in transcribing DNA into RNA, and ribosomes, which bring up the rear translating RNA into proteins—worked ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 2, 2026
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9
Is it possible to study the history of viruses that emerged several hundred million years ago? An international team of INRAE and CIRAD researchers answered this question by exploring plant genomes to find the molecular fossils ...
Evolution
Jul 2, 2026
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25
All living organisms are known to inherit genes, DNA sequences that contain instructions for producing specific proteins and performing biological functions, from their parents. In some cases, however, genes can also shift ...
A new evolutionary theory suggests that some asexual parasites may temporarily be able to infect a wider range of hosts as harmful genetic mutations build up. In a paper published in Trends in Parasitology, Cock van Oosterhout, ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 1, 2026
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4
In cancer research, one person's junk is increasingly becoming another person's treasure. Scientists have uncovered new evidence showing how recently evolved "junk DNA" genetic elements can become integrated into ancient ...
Evolution
Jul 1, 2026
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16
A research team led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has revealed how the genome is reorganized in 3D during male germ cell formation in vertebrates, leading to important new insights into how biodiversity is ...
Evolution
Jun 30, 2026
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The AI-based program AlphaFold predicts a protein's 3D structure with remarkable accuracy. However, it tends to reduce heterogeneous structures to a single dominant conformation, or shape, and overlooks experimental conditions ...
Biotechnology
Jun 29, 2026
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43
In this era of Big Data, the prevailing wisdom is that more information leads to better answers. However, a new Canadian study shows that in the hunt for life's ancient ancestors, more data can actually lead to less truth. ...
Evolution
Jun 18, 2026
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