Evolutionary Biology

Trophic eggs affect caste determination in the ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus

1. E. Genzoni
2. T. Schwander
3. L. Keller

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work is a valuable advance in our understanding of a very interesting biological phenomenon: the role of trophic eggs in ant caste determination. The evidence supporting the unexpected finding that feeding larvae trophic eggs promotes the development of the non-reproductive caste is compelling. However, even though there is a description of how trophic and fertile eggs differ in composition, the evidence of its significance for caste determination is incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

Genome-wide association and environmental suppression of the mortal germline phenotype of wild C. elegans

1. Lise Frézal
2. Marie Saglio
3. Gaotian Zhang
4. Luke Noble
5. Aurélien Richaud
6. Marie-Anne Félix

Reviewed by Review Commons

Broca’s area, variation and taxic diversity in early Homo from Koobi Fora (Kenya)

1. Amélie Beaudet
2. Edwin de Jager

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study uses the brain endocast of a ~1.9-million-year-old hominin fossil from Kenya, attributed to genus Homo, to show that the organization of the Broca's area in members of early Homo was primitive. Specifically, the prefrontal sulcal pattern in this early Homo specimen more closely resembles that of chimpanzees than of modern humans. Because Broca's area is associated with speech function, the compelling evidence from this study is relevant for understanding the timing and trajectory of evolution of speech related traits in our genus. Coupled with its potential implications for taxonomic classification, this study will be of interest to paleoanthropologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, and neuroscientists.

Reviewed by eLife

Evolutionary consequences of nascent multicellular life cycles

1. Jennifer T Pentz
2. Kathryn MacGillivray
3. James G DuBose
4. Peter L Conlin
5. Emma Reinhardt
6. Eric Libby
7. William C Ratcliff

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This Pentz et al study potentially provides fundamental insight into the evolution of multicellularity by experimentally demonstrating that yeast strains that form clonal groups evolve stronger group traits than ones that aggregate into non-clonal groups. While the repeatability of their experiments, supported by genomic analyses and models is compelling, the experimental design may be inadequate and would need to be extended to better support the main claims.

Reviewed by eLife

Natural genetic variation in a dopamine receptor is associated with variation in female fertility in Drosophila melanogaster

1. Richard F. Lyman
2. Rachel A. Lyman
3. Akihiko Yamamoto
4. Wen Huang
5. Susan T. Harbison
6. Shanshan Zhou
7. Robert R. H. Anholt
8. Trudy F. C. Mackay

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Selection on plastic adherence leads to hyper-multicellular strains and incidental virulence in the budding yeast

1. Luke I Ekdahl
2. Juliana A Salcedo
3. Matthew M Dungan
4. Despina V Mason
5. Dulguun Myagmarsuren
6. Helen A Murphy

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The origin of virulence in pathogenic microbes is not understood for many microbial species. The concept of 'accidental virulence' was proposed as a mechanism by which a microbe could acquire the capacity for virulence through interaction with other microbial species, such as amoeba. This paper adds an important new dimension to that concept by showing that the capacity for virulence can emerge from abiotic interactions, such as adherence to plastic.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Pollen-feeding delays reproductive senescence and maintains toxicity of Heliconius erato

1. Erika C. Pinheiro de Castro
2. Josie McPherson
3. Glennis Jullian
4. Anniina L. K. Mattila
5. Søren Bak
6. Stephen H. Montgomery
7. Chris Jiggins

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

The source of microbial transmission influences niche colonization and microbiome development

1. Isabel S. Tanger
2. Julia Stefanschitz
3. Yannick Schwert
4. Olivia Roth

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Evolution of chemosensory and detoxification gene families across herbivorous Drosophilidae

1. Julianne N Peláez
2. Andrew D Gloss
3. Benjamin Goldman-Huertas
4. Bernard Kim
5. Richard T Lapoint
6. Giovani Pimentel-Solorio
7. Kirsten I Verster
8. Jessica M Aguilar
9. Anna C Nelson Dittrich
10. Malvika Singhal
11. Hiromu C Suzuki
12. Teruyuki Matsunaga
13. Ellie E Armstrong
14. Joseph L M Charboneau
15. Simon C Groen
16. David H Hembry
17. Christopher J Ochoa
18. Timothy K O’Connor
19. Stefan Prost
20. Sophie Zaaijer
21. Paul D Nabity
22. Jiarui Wang
23. Esteban Rodas
24. Irene Liang
25. Noah K Whiteman

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Evolutionary dynamics of genome size and content during the adaptive radiation of Heliconiini butterflies

1. Francesco Cicconardi
2. Edoardo Milanetti
3. Erika C. Pinheiro de Castro
4. Anyi Mazo-Vargas
5. Steven M. Van Belleghem
6. Angelo Alberto Ruggieri
7. Pasi Rastas
8. Joseph Hanly
9. Elizabeth Evans
10. Chris D. Jiggins
11. W. Owen McMillan
12. Riccardo Papa
13. Daniele Di Marino
14. Arnaud Martin
15. Stephen H. Montgomery

Reviewed by Arcadia Science