Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

Amphioxus are small marine chordates that have broad ecological ranges, yet as adults form local settlements and exhibit limited mobility. Genomic surveys of two amphioxus species have suggested that they rank among the most genetically diverse metazoans. Here, we present the first accurate assessment of genomic diversity in the European amphioxus ( Branchiostoma lanceolatum ) and investigate the processes underlying this diversity. We leverage high-coverage whole-genome sequencing data from multiple individuals sampled at two geographically distant Atlantic and Mediterranean locations. Consistent with previous estimates in other amphioxus species, we measure exceptionally high genomic diversity, with an average heterozygosity of 2.73% in B. lanceolatum . Despite the large geographic separation between sampling sites, population differentiation is minimal, indicating extensive gene flow among distant adult settlements. Phylogenetic analyses combined with population genetic simulations confirm that this elevated genomic diversity is primarily driven by a large effective population size. Although adult amphioxus have limited mobility, our results indicate that long-distance larval dispersal mediated by ocean currents is sufficient to generate a near-panmictic population structure across their broad ecological range. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Swiss National Science Foundation, 207853 Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR-21-CE13-0034

Assistant Professor - Virology

Abstract. The allopatric model of speciation has dominated our understanding of speciation biology and biogeography since the Modern Synthesis. It is uncon

CLASSIC is a high-throughput genetic profiling platform that combines long- and short-read next-generation-sequencing modalities to quantitatively assess pools of constructs of arbitrary length containing diverse genetic part compositions.

Reconciliation algorithms infer the evolutionary history of individual gene trees given a species tree. Many reconciliation algorithms consider only duplication and loss events (and sometimes horizont...

The extraordinary repetitive content of human acrocentric short arms has prevented detailed investigations into recombination and de novo mutation. Integrating multiple sequencing technologies, we cre...

Determining whether sponges or ctenophores root the animal tree has important implications for understanding early animal evolution. Here, we examined support for these competing hypotheses by constru...

Observational studies are commonly used in psychology and epidemiology to identify risk factors correlated with health outcomes. However, these studies are vulnerable to confounding when shared geneti...

Proteins of unknown function (PUFs) remain a persistent blind spot in molecular biology. Emerging evidence implicates many PUFs in crucial but poorly characterised roles in biomedical contexts, partic...

Floral zygomorphy, or monosymmetry, is thought to have a positive effect on the diversification rates of angiosperms, but its true impact is still an open topic. Given the controversy surrounding th...