Evolutionary Biology

Extreme positive epistasis for fitness in monosomic yeast strains

1. Hanna Tutaj
2. Katarzyna Tomala
3. Adrian Pirog
4. Marzena Marszałek
5. Ryszard Korona

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study offers important insights into the generation and maintenance of monosomic yeast lines and is, to our knowledge, the first to evaluate gene expression in yeast monosomies. The research introduces an innovative method to assess epistasis between genes on the same chromosome, providing solid evidence for positive epistatic interactions affecting fitness. Although the authors have substantially improved the methodology and interpretation during revision, questions regarding the interpretation of the transcriptome data have not been completely addressed.

Reviewed by eLife

The transcriptome of the mosquito host Anopheles gambiae upon infection by different selected lines of the microsporidian parasite Vavraia culicis

1. Luís M. Silva

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

A direct experimental test of Ohno’s hypothesis

1. Ljiljana Mihajlovic
2. Bharat Ravi Iyengar
3. Florian Baier
4. Içvara Barbier
5. Justyna Iwaszkiewicz
6. Vincent Zoete
7. Andreas Wagner
8. Yolanda Schaerli

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental study uses a creative experimental system to directly test Ohno's hypothesis, which describes how and why new genes might evolve by duplication of existing ones. In agreement with existing criticism of Ohno's original idea, the authors present compelling evidence that having two gene copies does not speed up the evolution of a new function as posited by Ohno, but instead leads to the rapid inactivation of one of the copies through the accumulation of mostly deleterious mutations. These findings will be of broad interest to evolutionary biologists and geneticists.

Reviewed by eLife, preLights

The impact of social complexity on the efficacy of natural selection in termites

1. Camille Roux
2. Alice Ha
3. Arthur Weyna
4. Morgan Lode
5. Jonathan Romiguier

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

The evolutionary history of the ancient weevil family Belidae (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) reveals the marks of Gondwana breakup and major floristic turnovers, including the rise of angiosperms

1. Xuankun Li
2. Adriana E Marvaldi
3. Rolf G Oberprieler
4. Dave Clarke
5. Brian D Farrell
6. Andrea Sequeira
7. M Silvia Ferrer
8. Charles O'Brien
9. Shayla Salzman
10. Seunggwan Shin
11. William Tang
12. Duane D McKenna

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  Through anchored phylogenomic analyses, this important study offers fresh insights into the evolutionary history of the plant diet and geographic distribution of Belidae weevil beetles. Employing robust methodological approaches, the authors propose that certain belid lineages have maintained a continuous association with Araucaria hosts since the Mesozoic era. Although the biogeographical analysis is somewhat limited by uncertainties in vicariance explanations, this convincing study enhances our understanding of Belidae's evolutionary dynamics and provides new perspectives on ancient community ecology.

Reviewed by eLife

Refining the resolution of the yeast genotype-phenotype map using single-cell RNA-sequencing

1. Arnaud N’Guessan
2. Wen Yuan Tong
3. Hamed Heydari
4. Alex N Nguyen Ba

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This useful study describes expression profiling by scRNA-seq of thousands of cells of recombinant yeast genotypes from a system that models natural genetic variation. The rigorous new method presented here shows promise for improving the efficiency of genotype-to-phenotype mapping in yeast, providing convincing evidence for its efficacy. This revised manuscript focuses on overcoming technical challenges with this approach and identifies several new biological insights that build upon the field of genotype-to-phenotype mapping, a central question of interest to geneticists and evolutionary biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Experimental evolution of evolvability

1. Michael Barnett
2. Lena Zeller
3. Paul B. Rainey

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

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

Flexible reproductive seasonality in Africa-dwelling papionins is associated with low environmental productivity and high climatic unpredictability

1. Jules Dezeure
2. Julie Dagorrette
3. Lugdiwine Burtschell
4. Shahrina Chowdhury
5. Dieter Lukas
6. Larissa Swedell
7. Elise Huchard

Reviewed by Peer Community in Ecology

Spatial and temporal distribution of ribosomes in single cells reveals aging differences between old and new daughters of Escherichia coli

1. Lin Chao
2. Chun Kuen Chan
3. Chao Shi
4. Ulla Camilla Rang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study is a potentially important contribution to the field of protein biosynthesis pathways and their link to aging, especially regarding the thorough analysis of variation in measures expected to correlate with elongation rate in old and new daughter cells derived from old and new mother cells. However, the imaging results, analysis, and methodologies are incomplete, as in its current form several key questions remain unanswered.

Reviewed by eLife