The mechanisms by which new species arise are still not fully understood. What are the evolutionary processes that drive the evolution of new species? Evolutionary biologists traditionally assumed that geographical barriers between animal populations play a decisive role (allopatric speciation): a species is physically separated into two or more isolated populations, thereby preventing gene flow between these groups. The subpopulations adapt to their respective habitats and evolve into independent species with different characteristics. In recent years, however, the evolutionary biologist Professor Axel Meyer from the University of Konstanz has not only been able to show that new species can evolve from a source population within a shared habitat and in the presence of gene flow (sympatric speciation), but that this type of speciation might be much more common than previously thought. His laboratory is investigating both the ecological and genetic mechanisms that facilitate sympatric speciation. In a recent publication in the scientific journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, Axel Meyer and his colleagues Paolo Franchini, Peiwen Xiong, Carmelo Fruciano, Ralf Schneider, Joost Woltering and Darrin Hulsey identify the decisive role that a kind of genetic switch, microRNAs, play in sympatric speciation.
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Source: Phys.org