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Koskella, B., and N. Parr. 2015. The evolution of bacterial resistance against bacteriophages in the horse chestnut phyllosphere is general across both space and time. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 370. HERE Abstract: Insight to the spatial and temporal scales of coevolution is key to predicting the outcome of host–parasite … Continue reading Britt and Nicole have a new paper out exploring the generality of bacterial resistance to phage across time and space

For the previous two research highlights at Evolutionary Applications, I first examined disease spillover into and from natural populations, and then examine some of the recent work on the CRISPR/Cas system in bacteria: The CRISPR/Cas revolution "The evolution of host defenses against parasites and pathogens has resulted in a wide array of mechanisms conferring resistance … Continue reading Two new Evolutionary Applications research highlights

For this month's research highlights in Evolutionary Applications, I cover a few new papers that demonstrate the importance of thinking about evolution and ecology in fisheries science. "The pressure on both natural and managed fish stocks to keep pace with worldwide consumption presents a number of critical challenges, including the prevention of population collapse, management … Continue reading Applied evolution in fisheries science

Meaden, S., Paszkiewicz, K., & Koskella, B. (2015). The cost of phage resistance in a plant pathogenic bacterium is context‐dependent. Evolution. HERE Abstract: Parasites are ubiquitous features of living systems and many parasites severely reduce the fecundity or longevity of their hosts. This parasite-imposed selection on host populations should strongly favor the evolution of host resistance, but … Continue reading New paper by Sean exploring context-dependent nature of costs of resistance to phage now online in Evolution

For the past two research highlights at Evolutionary Applications, I first covered a great paper summarizing the many way evolutionary theory can be applied to current issues by Scot Carroll and colleagues: "As we highlight each month in this section, the application of evolutionary theory to issues affecting the health and well-being of human, agricultural, and … Continue reading Previous two research highlights for Evolutionary Applications

For this month's Evolutionary Applications research highlight, I discuss recent uses of evolutionary theory in driving agricultural practice: "The earliest application of evolutionary theory, although unknowingly at the time, was artificial selection of crops and animals for food production. Ever increasing technical advances in breeding, genetic engineering and comparative genomics have since led to a … Continue reading The ever-evolving field of agriculture

Lin, D., & Koskella, B. (2014). Friend and foe: factors influencing the movement of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori along the parasitism‐mutualism continuum. Evolutionary Applications. HERE Abstract: Understanding the transition of bacterial species from commensal to pathogen, or vice versa, is a key application of evolutionary theory to preventative medicine. This requires working knowledge of the molecular interaction … Continue reading Paper exploring the transition of the human-associated bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, now online and open access at Evolutionary Applications

http://shar.es/87vxl "Interest in using bacteriophages to control the growth and spread of bacterial pathogens is being revived in the wake of widespread antibiotic resistance. However, little is known about the ecological effects that high concentrations of phages in the environment might have on natural microbial communities. We review the current evidence suggesting phage-mediated environmental perturbation, … Continue reading Sean’s new paper on the risks associated with phage biopesticide use in the environment is out now and open access

When Michelle Tseng (founding editor of Evolutionary Applications) asked me many years back how I felt about double blind peer review, I was fairly agnostic. Wouldn't most reviewers be able to guess anyway? Surely the system isn't biased enough to warrant such an obstacle? How will reviewers know what sort of overlap the study has … Continue reading As I see it: the value of double blind peer review

For this month's Evolutionary Application Research Highlight, I explored: Disease evolution and ecology across space "How infectious disease spreads both from individual to individual and across a landscape will depend upon many inter-related factors, including the genetic composition of host and pathogen populations, the pathogen transmission rate, host density, population connectivity, and the evolutionary response … Continue reading Disease evolution and ecology across space