Evolutionary Biology

Experimental evolution of evolvability

1. Michael Barnett
2. Lena Meister
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

Reproductive modes in populations of late-acting self-incompatible and self-compatible polyploid Ludwigia grandiflora subsp. hexapetala in western Europe

1. Solenn Stoeckel
2. Ronan Becheler
3. Luis Portillo-Lemus
4. Marilyne Harang
5. Anne-Laure Besnard
6. Gilles Lassalle
7. Romain Causse-Védrines
8. Sophie Michon-Coudouel
9. Daniel J. Park
10. Bernard J. Pope
11. Eric J. Petit
12. Dominique Barloy

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

Harbouring Starships : The accumulation of large Horizontal Gene Transfers in Domesticated and Pathogenic Fungi

1. Samuel O’Donnell
2. Gabriela Rezende
3. Jean-Philippe Vernadet
4. Alodie Snirc
5. Jeanne Ropars

Reviewed by PREreview

Direct inference of the distribution of fitness effects of spontaneous mutations from recombinant inbred C. elegans mutation accumulation lines

1. Timothy A. Crombie
2. Moein Rajaei
3. Ayush S. Saxena
4. Lindsay M. Johnson
5. Sayran Saber
6. Robyn E. Tanny
7. José Miguel Ponciano
8. Erik C. Andersen
9. Juannan Zhou
10. Charles F. Baer

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Experimental bleaching of photosymbiotic amoeba revealed strain-dependent differences in algal symbiosis ability

1. Daisuke Yamagishi
2. Ryo Onuma
3. Sachihiro Matsunaga
4. Shin-ya Miyagishima
5. Shinichiro Maruyama

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Improved inference of population histories by integrating genomic and epigenomic data

1. Thibaut Sellinger
2. Frank Johannes
3. Aurélien Tellier

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study extends existing sequentially Markovian coalescent approaches to include the combined use of SNPs and hypervariable loci such as epimutations. This is an intriguing addition to infer population size history in the recent past, and the authors provide solid validation of their methods via simulation and analysis of empirical data in Arabidopsis thaliana. Given the increasing availability of such data, this work is a timely contribution and represents a foundation for further developments to explore when and where these methods will be best used.

Reviewed by eLife

Convergent evolution in silico reveals shape and dynamic principles of directed locomotion

1. Renata B Biazzi
2. André Fujita
3. Daniel Y Takahashi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides an important, original framework to study locomotion on the ground with physics-based simulations. Through numerical simulations, the authors propose that intermediate numbers of body modules and high body symmetry enhance speed. The current way discussions and conclusions are written is overly broad: evidence that evolution may favour bilateral symmetry and modularity for efficient directed locomotion is still incomplete as further performance metrics and a more accurate description of the dynamics in water are needed.

Reviewed by eLife