Evolutionary Biology

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. While the evidence is solid, some improvements in the presentation of the data and a greater focus on the causes of the discrepancies between the various fitness estimates would strengthen the paper further.

Reviewed by eLife

Genotypic and phenotypic consequences of domestication in dogs

1. Sweetalana
2. Shirin Nataneli
3. Shengmiao Huang
4. Jazlyn A Mooney
5. Zachary A Szpiech

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Performance and Robustness of Parameter Estimation from Phylogenetic Trees Using Neural Networks

1. Tianjian Qin
2. Koen J. van Benthem
3. Luis Valente
4. Rampal S. Etienne

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Adaptive cellular evolution in the intestinal tracts of hyperdiverse African cichlid fishes

1. Antoine Fages
2. Maëva Luxey
3. Fabrizia Ronco
4. Charlotte E.T. Huyghe
5. P. Navaneeth Krishna Menon
6. Adrian Indermaur
7. Walter Salzburger
8. Patrick Tschopp

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

The emergence and evolution of gene expression in genome regions replete with regulatory motifs

1. Timothy Fuqua
2. Yiqiao Sun
3. Andreas Wagner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study explores the relationship between the sequence of prokaryotic promoter elements and their activity using mutagenesis to generate thousands of mutant sequences. The evidence supporting these findings is convincing. This work will appeal to those interested in bacterial genetics, genome evolution, and gene regulation.

Reviewed by eLife

In silico evolution of globular protein folds from random sequences

1. Harutyun Sahakyan
2. Sanasar G. Babajanyan
3. Yuri I. Wolf
4. Eugene V. Koonin

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

First evidence for the evolution of host manipulation by tumors during the long-term vertical transmission of tumor cells in Hydra oligactis

1. Justine Boutry
2. Océane Rieu
3. Lena Guimard
4. Jordan Meliani
5. Aurora M Nedelcu
6. Sophie Tissot
7. Nikita Stepanskyy
8. Beata Ujvari
9. Rodrigo Hamede
10. Antoine M Dujon
11. Jácint Tökölyi
12. Fréderic Thomas

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This interesting study explores whether tumor cells can manipulate their Hydra hosts, and includes important findings on the consequences for the fitness of the host Hydra. The evidence supporting these findings is convincing. The work will be of broad interest to many fields including development biology, evolutionary biology and tumor biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Most Beefalo cattle have no detectable bison genetic ancestry

1. Beth Shapiro
2. Jonas Oppenheimer
3. Michael P Heaton
4. Kristen L Kuhn
5. Richard E Green
6. Harvey D Blackburn
7. Timothy PL Smith

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study used whole genome data to investigate Beefalo ancestry for the first time. It provides insight into the genetics of Beefalo cattle, definitively challenging the long-held claim of 37.5% buffalo ancestry reported by the American Beefalo Association. This results are convincing, with a comprehensive range of well-established population genomics methods being used to estimate ancestry in these animals. This work will be of significant interest to evolutionary biologists, population geneticists, animal breeders, and those involved in the conservation genetics of bovine species.

Reviewed by eLife

The proteotranscriptomic characterization of venom in the white seafan Eunicella singularis elucidates the evolution of Octocorallia arsenal

1. Maria Vittoria Modica
2. Serena Leone
3. Marco Gerdol
4. Samuele Greco
5. Didier Aurelle
6. Marco Oliverio
7. Giulia Fassio
8. Khadija El Koulali
9. Célia Barrachina
10. Sebastien Dutertre

Reviewed by Review Commons

Single-cell sequencing provides clues about the developmental genetic basis of evolutionary adaptations in syngnathid fishes

1. Hope M Healey
2. Hayden B Penn
3. Clayton M Small
4. Susan Bassham
5. Vithika Goyal
6. Micah A Woods
7. William A Cresko

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides a valuable new resource to investigate the molecular basis of the particular features characterizing the pipefish embryo. The authors found both unique and shared gene expression patterns in pipefish organs compared with other teleost fishes. The solid data collected in this unconventional model organism will give new insights into understanding the extraordinary adaptations of the Syngnathidae family and will be of interest in the domain of evolution of fish development.

Reviewed by eLife