Adaptive molecular convergence is pervasive across deep time and largely decoupled from phenotypic convergence.

Abstract excerpt

Reuse of homologous genes during the evolution of similar traits or ecological transitions is often taken as evidence that evolution is repeatable at the molecular level. To study gene reuse, biologists frequently select specific convergent phenotypes and search for signatures of natural selection in genomes associated with those phenotypes. However, the causes and frequency of genome-scale molecular convergence...

Topics

• Animals
• Evolution, Molecular
• Phenotype
• Selection, Genetic
• Phylogeny
• Adaptation, Physiological