Coevolution articles from across Nature Portfolio

Microorganisms have long driven Earth’s oxidative sulfuric cycle using complex sulfur-oxidizing systems. This study shows that this molecular machinery first originated in the anoxic Archean eon and gradually acquired new components over billions of years to adapt to rising atmospheric oxygen.

SyeA was present in the Buchnera ancestor, is secreted into the host cytoplasm, is homologous to secreted effectors of bacterial pathogens and is essential for Buchnera transmission.

Comprehensive assessment of the host range of phages is a prerequisite for their safe and effective use in multiple applications but is rarely undertaken. This Review outlines the molecular and ecological determinants of phage host range and discusses the importance of these determinants for developing phage-based applications.

Adult sex ratio is important in breeding systems and sexual selection. Here, the authors show that sex-biased demographic processes, including differences in mortality and maturation between males and females, shape adult sex ratio variation in 261 bird species.

Many insects harbour bacterial endosymbionts that provide them with essential nutrients. Here, Krüsemer et al. show that introduction of a tractable bacterium into a beetle host leads to efficient vertical transmission of the bacterium and rapid elimination of the host’s native symbiont, thus establishing a model system to study symbiont loss and replacement.

Analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes from archaeological canid remains found across Europe and Anatolia shows that a genetically homogeneous dog population was already widely distributed across the region by 15,000 years ago.

Corrie S. Moreau studies the evolution of extreme armour and gut microbiomes in turtle ants.

Metarhizium fungi can be engineered to produce the volatile longifolene to attract and kill mosquitoes, offering a new approach to sustainable vector control.

What being outsmarted by a tropical plant taught Matthew Betts about science.

A longitudinal observational study in a wild meerkat population investigates the pattern of pathogen-mediated selection and provides evidence of an arms race between immune genes and pathogens.