Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Bacteria can drive the evolution of new species
"Bacteria that live on the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster can affect their host's choice of mate by altering the fly's pheromones, a new study suggests. [...] [This] suggests that natural selection, which drives evolution, acts on a host and its symbiotic partners as a single unit rather than on each species in isolation." News story @ Nature News.
Full Paper: Sharon, G. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. doi:10.1073/pnas.1009906107
Full Paper: Sharon, G. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. doi:10.1073/pnas.1009906107
Lactobacillus plantarum may be speeding the speciation of their hosts.
