Evolutionary Biology

The potential of inversions to accumulate balanced sexual antagonism is supported by simulations and Drosophila experiments

1. Christopher S McAllester
2. John E Pool

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study proposes a new model that could solve some long-standing puzzles about inversion polymorphisms in Drosophila melanogaster by invoking sexually antagonism and negative frequency-dependent selection. While the idea developed here is a valuable contribution to the field, the experiment only addresses one element of the hypothesis, so that the empirical evidence in support of the model remains incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

The Primate Major Histocompatibility Complex: An Illustrative Example of Gene Family Evolution

1. Alyssa Lyn Fortier
2. Jonathan K Pritchard

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable manuscript presents a thorough analysis of the evolution of Major Histocompatibility Complex gene families across Primates. A key strength of this analysis is the use of state-of-the-art phylogenetic methods to estimate rates of gene gain and loss, but estimates of gene loss may suffer from the issue of genes entirely or partially missing from genome assemblies represented in the public databases used, given the notorious difficulty to properly assemble MHC gene genomic regions. Overall the evidence provided is still convincing, but the manuscript may benefit from discussing approaches that can address the issue of entirely or partially missing genes, in particular how the use of long reads to completely re-assemble complex loci might improve the assessment of the complex evolutionary processes at play in MHC gene families.

Reviewed by eLife

Fluctuations and the limit of predictability in protein evolution

1. Saverio Rossi
2. Leonardo Di Bari
3. Martin Weigt
4. Francesco Zamponi

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

The population genetics of convergent adaptation in maize and teosinte is not locally restricted

1. Silas Tittes
2. Anne Lorant
3. Sean P McGinty
4. James B Holland
5. Jose de Jesus Sánchez-González
6. Arun Seetharam
7. Maud Tenaillon
8. Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study examines patterns of diversity and divergence in two closely related sub-species of Zea mays, patterns that have bearings on local adaptation in maize and teosinte at intermediate geographic scales. The authors suggest that convergent evolution has been facilitated by both standing variation and gene flow, with independent selective sweeps in the two species. While the data themselves are solid, there are limitations concerning population sampling, false positive rates in sweep detection and integration of phenotypic data, which make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. The work should in principle be of broad interest to colleagues studying the relationship between domesticated species and their progenitors, as well as those studying instances of parallel evolution.

Reviewed by eLife

Ectopic Gene Conversion Causing Quantitative Trait Variation

1. Marina Pfalz
2. Seïf-Eddine Naadja
3. Jacqui Anne Shykoff
4. Juergen Kroymann

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Sex-biased gene expression across tissues reveals unexpected differentiation in the gills of the threespine stickleback

1. Florent Sylvestre
2. Nadia Aubin-Horth
3. Louis Bernatchez

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

On the variation of structural divergence among residues in enzyme evolution

1. Julian Echave
2. Mathilde Carpentier

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

On the nature of the earliest known lifeforms

1. Dheeraj Kanaparthi
2. Frances Westall
3. Marko Lampe
4. Baoli Zhu
5. Thomas Boesen
6. Bettina Scheu
7. Andreas Klingl
8. Petra Schwille
9. Tillmann Lueders

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This provocative manuscript presents important comparisons of the morphologies of Archaean bacterial microfossils to those of microbes transformed under environmental conditions that mimic those present on Earth during the same Eon. The evidence in support of the conclusions is solid. The authors' environmental condition selection for their experiment is justified.

Reviewed by eLife

Recurrent Evolutionary Innovations in Rodent and Primate Schlafen Genes

1. Joris Mordier
2. Marine Fraisse
3. Michel Cohen-Tannoudji
4. Antoine Molaro

Reviewed by Review Commons

Recombination shapes the diversification of the wtf meiotic drivers

1. Yan Wang
2. Hao Xu
3. Qinliu He
4. Zhiwei Wu
5. Zhen Gong
6. Guan-Zhu Han

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study provides one mechanism that can explain the rapid diversification of poison-antidote pairs in fission yeast: recombination between existing pairs. The evidence is largely solid, but the study can benefit from demonstrating that the novel poison-antidote constructed by the authors can serve as a meiotic driver. The work is of interest to colleagues studying genetic incompatibilities.

Reviewed by eLife