image: A photograph of one of the 25 museum specimens from which genomes were sequenced and analyzed by the population genomic study of Shpak et al. (2023). While some samples dated from the early 1800s, the depicted specimen was collected in 1933 on the campus of Lund University
(Sweden).
Credit: Christoffer Fägerström (CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Genomes from 25 museum specimens of Drosophila melanogaster (some more than 200 years old) reveal that small populations occupying northern Europe gave way to well-connected fly populations across the continent, and also illuminate targets of recent selection, including genes that may have helped this species adapt to novel climates, viruses, and insecticides.
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In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper in PLOS Biology: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002333
Article Title: Genomes from historical Drosophila melanogaster specimens illuminate adaptive and demographic changes across more than 200 years of evolution
Author Countries: United States, Sweden
Funding: Funding was provided from Vetenskapsrådet (2019-03536) and the Max Planck Center on Next Generation Insect Chemical Ecology to MCS, and from NIH NIGMS award 144 AAH7544 to JEP. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS Biology
COI Statement
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.