Evolutionary Biology

Long-term hybridization in a karst window reveals the genetic basis of eye loss in cavefish

1. Riley Kellermeyer
2. Luis Espinasa
3. Chris Seidel
4. William B. Redwine
5. Rachel L. Moran
6. Sylvain Bertho
7. Emma Y. Roback
8. Claudia Patricia Ornelas-García
9. Dana Alegre
10. Kyle Weaver
11. Jay Unruh
12. Benjamin Troutwine
13. Yongfu Wang
14. Tathagata Biswas
15. Masato Yoshizawa
16. Emily Collins
17. Jennifer Rutkowski
18. Jordi Espinasa
19. Suzanne E. McGaugh
20. Nicolas Rohner

Reviewed by PREreview

Super compensatory substitutions restore protein function and confer mutational robustness

1. Wenhong Jiang
2. Hengchuang Yin
3. Saad S Khan
4. Yiparemu Abuduhaibaier
5. Lucas B Carey

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study identifies and characterizes a set of amino acid states that can rescue protein function in the presence of substantially deleterious mutations. Some of these super-compensatory substitutions also confer substantial mutational robustness, with broader implications for understanding epistasis, protein evolution, and protein engineering. The evidence is compelling, supported by a creative reanalysis of a large deep-mutational-scanning dataset, experimental validation, an in-depth investigation of the evolutionary implications, and structural mechanistic analysis.

Reviewed by eLife

Developmental bias explains the evolutionary trend towards simple leaf shapes

1. James S Malone
2. Nora S Martin
3. Samuel HA von der Dunk
4. Liliana M Dávalos
5. Ard A Louis

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper presents important findings on how the shapes of leaves might be biased towards simpler shapes due to biases in how variation is generated by developmental processes rather than selection. The authors present convincing evidence that combines image analysis of a herbarium dataset and computational analysis of a model of leaf development. The paper should be of interest to diverse researchers, ranging from plant development to the evolution of complexity more broadly.

Reviewed by eLife

Phylogenomics of free-living neobodonids reveals they are a paraphyletic group from which all other metakinetoplastids are descended

1. Daryna Zavadska
2. Julia A Packer
3. Daria Tashyreva
4. Ryoma Kamikawa
5. Alastair Simpson
6. Daniel J Richter

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study substantially improves the phylogenetic framework for Kinetoplastea through greatly expanded sampling of free-living neobodonids; the phylogenomic analyses provide convincing evidence that neobodonids are paraphyletic and establish a substantially revised framework for deep relationships within Metakinetoplastina. The work forms the foundation for future comparative studies of kinetoplastid evolution and systematics, although its implications for the origins of parasitism should not be overstated. An 18S rRNA phylogeny documenting the placement of the newly sampled strains within previously recognized neobodonid lineages and/or confirmation of the principal topology using a well-documented phylogenomic set of marker genes would further strengthen the study. The work will be of particular interest to researchers studying protist evolution and the evolutionary context of trypanosomatids.

Reviewed by eLife

Insect metamorphosis is regulated differently between sexes by members of a microRNA cluster

1. Chade Li
2. Ki Kei Chan
3. Wenyan Nong
4. ShanShan Chen
5. Wai Lok So
6. Zhe Qu
7. Heidi YC Wu
8. Ho Yin Yip
9. Chi Bun Chan
10. Stephen S Tobe
11. William G Bendena
12. Zhen Peng Kai
13. Jerome HL Hui

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides a useful inventory of genes that are up- or down-regulated during the early metamorphic development of male and female larvae and proposes that the microRNA cluster miR-277/34 is involved in the development of sexual differences during early metamorphosis of Drosophila melanogaster, although its precise role remains unclear. The strength of evidence, based on a combination of diverse methods including mRNA and small RNA sequencing, in silico analyses, in vitro assays, and loss-of-function experiments, is incomplete as it lacks a general model and an examination of the potential effects of the miR-277/34 mutations on phenotypes such as morphology or developmental time. This work will be of interest to developmental biologists interested in sexual dimorphism and in the interplay between hormones and microRNAs during development.

Reviewed by eLife

The geometry of gametic dispersal in a flying mammal, Rhinolophus hipposideros

1. Thomas Brazier
2. Diane Zarzoso-Lacoste
3. Lisa Lehnen
4. Pierre-Loup Jan
5. Sebastien J. Puechmaille
6. Eric J. Petit

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

Intersecting experimental evolution and CRISPR screens to identify novel toxin resistance loci

1. Michele Marconcini
2. Steeve Cruchet
3. Srishti Goswami
4. Raghuvir Viswanatha
5. Matthew Butnaru
6. Joydeep De
7. Camilla Roselli
8. Dafni Hadjieconomou
9. Norbert Perrimon
10. Stephanie E Mohr
11. Richard Benton

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study presents an innovative combination of experimental evolution and CRISPR screening to study the genetic basis of a polygenic trait, resistance against octanoic acid in Drosophila. The evidence supporting the authors claims is solid. The work will be of interest to the Drosophila community and researchers interested in functional testing of polygenic traits.

Reviewed by eLife

The evolution of cavefish odor perception shifts fish response from avoidance to approach when exposed to alarm and death odors

1. Zachary Harkinish-Murray
2. Tiffany Chan
3. Jerry N Gbarlea
4. Agniva Sinha
5. Anthony Bedard
6. Hala AlGarni
7. Desiree T Sukhram
8. Javier F Juarez
9. Roberto Rodriquez-Morales
10. Robert A Kozol

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study shows that cave-adapted Astyanax mexicanus have shifted from avoiding alarm and decay odors to being attracted by them, alongside sex-specific responses to social odors. The evidence for the behavioral and heritability claims is convincing, supported by analyses of different cave populations and F2 hybrids, as well as starvation-induced plasticity experiments. Whole-brain pERK mapping offers suggestive mechanistic insight, although uncertainties in anatomical assignments and aspects of statistical and ethogram reporting temper the strength of the neurobiological conclusions. The work will be of interest to anyone working on the evolution of behavior.

Reviewed by eLife

Quantifying microbial fitness in high-throughput experiments

1. Justus Wilhelm Fink
2. Michael Manhart

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript applies a theoretical analysis to two published datasets on yeast and bacterial evolution to compare different ways of quantifying fitness. It makes an important advance by clarifying how discrepancies can arise by using different approaches and provides recommendations for best practices. Overall, this is an impressive and highly beneficial study that is based on convincing evidence and has the potential of setting standards in this rapidly growing field.

Reviewed by eLife

Evolution of sideways locomotion in crabs

1. Junya Taniguchi
2. Tsubasa Inoue
3. Kano Kohara
4. Jung-Fu Huang
5. Atsushi Hirai
6. Nobuaki Mizumoto
7. Fumio Takeshita
8. Yuuki Kawabata

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study presents a comparative dataset on crab locomotion to investigate the evolution of sideways walking. The evidence supporting the authors' claims is convincing. This work will be of broad interest to researchers in animal locomotion and evolutionary biology.

Reviewed by eLife