Evolutionary Biology

Evolutionary and functional analyses reveal a role for the RHIM in tuning RIPK3 activity across vertebrates

1. Elizabeth J. Fay
2. Kolya Isterabadi
3. Charles M. Rezanka
4. Jessica Le
5. Matthew D. Daugherty

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study provides compelling evidence for the evolutionary diversification and conserved NFκB-inducing function of RHIM-containing RIP kinase proteins across animal lineages, combining thorough bioinformatic analysis with functional assays in human cells. The findings are of broad interest to immunologists and evolutionary biologists, though some novel observations would benefit from deeper conceptual integration.

Reviewed by eLife

Estimates of molecular convergence reveal genes with intermediate pleiotropy underlying adaptive variation across teleost fish

1. Agneesh Barua
2. Malvika Srivastava
3. Brice Beinsteiner
4. Vincent Laudet
5. Marc Robinson-Rechavi

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Evolution of gene order in prokaryotes is driven primarily by gene gain and loss

1. Shelly Brezner
2. Sofya K. Garushyants
3. Yuri I. Wolf
4. Eugene V. Koonin
5. Sagi Snir

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Low-dimensional genotype-fitness mapping across divergent environments suggests a limiting functions model of fitness

1. Olivia M. Ghosh
2. Grant Kinsler
3. Benjamin H. Good
4. Dmitri A. Petrov

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Cancer-immune coevolution dictated by antigenic mutation accumulation

1. Long Wang
2. Christo Morison
3. Weini Huang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work presents a stochastic branching process model of tumour-immune coevolution, incorporating stochastic antigenic mutation accumulation and escape within the cancer cell population. They then used this model to investigate how tumour-immune interactions influence tumour outcome and the summary statistics of sequencing data of bulk and single-cell sequencing of a tumour. The evidence is currently incomplete: statistical comparisons between the observed mutational burden distribution and theoretical predictions in the absence of immune selection should be carried out. Conclusions should be tested extensively for robustness/sensitivity to parameters.

Reviewed by eLife

The population structure of invasive Lantana camara is shaped by its mating system

1. P Praveen
2. Rajesh Gopal
3. Uma Ramakrishnan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The submission by Praveen and colleagues reports important findings describing the structure of genetic and colour variation in its native range for the globally invasive weed Lantana camara. Whilst the importance of the research question and the scale of the sampling is appreciated, the analysis, which is currently incomplete, requires further tests to support the claims made by the authors.

Reviewed by eLife

Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus

1. Eléonore Genzoni
2. Tanja Schwander
3. Laurent Keller

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important manuscript by Genzoni et al. reports the striking discovery of a regulatory role for trophic eggs in ant caste determination. Prior to this study, trophic eggs were widely assumed to play only a nutritional role in the colony, but this compelling study shows that trophic eggs can suppress queen development, and therefore regulate caste determination in specific social contexts.

Reviewed by eLife

Tooth development in frogs: Implications for the re-evolution of lost mandibular teeth and the origin of a morphological innovation

1. Daniel J. Paluh
2. Madeline Brinkman
3. Kyliah Gilliam-Beale
4. Daniela Salcedo-Recio
5. Jacob Szafranski
6. James Hanken
7. Gareth J. Fraser

Reviewed by preLights

Structural evolution of nitrogenase enzymes over geologic time

1. Bruno Cuevas
2. Franka Detemple
3. Kaustubh Amritkar
4. Amanda K Garcia
5. Lance Seefeldt
6. Oliver Einsle
7. Betul Kacar

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study presents computational analyses of over 5,000 predicted extant and ancestral nitrogenase structures. While the data and some analyses are solid, the study remains incomplete in demonstrating that the metrics used for comparing nitrogenase structures are statistically rigorous. The data generated in this study provide a vast resource that can serve as a starting point for functional studies of reconstructed and extant nitrogenases.

Reviewed by eLife

Evolutionary Adaptations of TRPA1 Thermosensitivity and Skin Thermoregulation in Vertebrates

1. Gabriel E. Bertolesi
2. Neda Heshami
3. Sarah McFarlane

Reviewed by Arcadia Science