Detection and emergence of novel genes

The birth of new genes can facilitate major evolutionary innovations. The accurate detection of novel genes is necessary to make inferences about the nature of their emergence and the role they play in shaping lineage-specific traits.

Evolution of the brown algae

Brown algae are eukaryotes that evolved complex multicellularity and sex chromosomes independently from plants and animals. They represent a unique model to study the universality or uniqueness of processes that shape biological complexity.

Pumpkin evolution

The evolutionary history of pumpkins (Cucurbita) is peculiar, as they have experienced a whole-genome duplication event and at least six independent domestication events in five different species.