ArticlePLoS biology2023
Genomes from historical Drosophila melanogaster specimens illuminate adaptive and demographic changes across more than 200 years of evolution.
Article in PLoS biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Museum specimens reveal the genomic consequences of long-term population decline in an insect pollinator.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Museum Genomics of an Important Swedish Pollinator Reveals Population Stability Across Time.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- The Evolution of Bees: Insights from 'Omic Studies.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Review
- The ongoing invasion of the endogenous retrovirusbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The First Whole Genome Sequencing of Historical Lichen Specimens Enables Genome-Wide Analysis of Fungal and Algal Symbionts.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Vertebrate and Invertebrate Animal Models for the Study of Down Syndrome.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Spatiotemporal Tracking of Three Novel Transposable Element Invasions in Drosophila melanogaster over the Last 30 Years.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Double trouble: two retrotransposons triggered a cascade of invasions in Drosophila species within the last 50 years.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- GenomeDelta: detecting recent transposable element invasions without repeat library.Genome biology · 2024Article
- Sequencing RNA from old, dried specimens reveals past viromes and properties of long-surviving RNA.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Single-fly genome assemblies fill major phylogenomic gaps across the Drosophilidae Tree of Life.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- A Path Integral Approach for Allele Frequency Dynamics Under Polygenic Selection.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Pathogen prospecting of museums: Reconstructing malaria epidemiology.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Genomes of historical specimens reveal multiple invasions of LTR retrotransposons inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Cellular and molecular organization of the Drosophila foregut.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Historic Museum Samples Provide Evidence for a Recent Replacement of Wolbachia Types in European Drosophila melanogaster.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Single-fly assemblies fill major phylogenomic gaps across the Drosophilidae Tree of Life.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
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5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The ability to perform genomic sequencing on long-dead organisms is opening new frontiers in evolutionary research. These opportunities are especially notable in the case of museum collections, from which countless documented specimens may now be suitable for genomic analysis-if data of sufficient quality can be obtained. Here, we report 25 newly sequenced genomes from museum specimens of the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, including the oldest extant specimens of this species. By comparing historical samples ranging from the early 1800s to 1933 against modern-day genomes, we document evolution across thousands of generations, including time periods that encompass the species' initial occupation of northern Europe and an era of rapidly increasing human activity. We also find that the Lund, Sweden population underwent local genetic differentiation during the early 1800s to 1933 interval (potentially due to drift in a small population) but then became more similar to other European populations thereafter (potentially due to increased migration). Within each century-scale time period, our temporal sampling allows us to document compelling candidates for recent natural selection. In some cases, we gain insights regarding previously implicated selection candidates, such as ChKov1, for which our inferred timing of selection favors the hypothesis of antiviral resistance over insecticide resistance. Other candidates are novel, such as the circadian-related gene Ahcy, which yields a selection signal that rivals that of the DDT resistance gene Cyp6g1. These insights deepen our understanding of recent evolution in a model system, and highlight the potential of future museomic studies.
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