Variation and selection within the organism

Most organisms are subject to evolution at more than one level: conflicts of interest can occur between branches of a tree, between different lineages within the germ line, and within the cells in the germ line themselves. A single eukaryotic cell is a community, including organelles, such as mitochondria and chloroplast, transposable elements, and the 'host' DNA. We study the interactions between these different evolutionary levels, and their implications to the higher levels: the entire organism and the population.