Evolutionary Biology

Adaptations in wing morphology rather than wingbeat kinematics enable flight in small hoverfly species

1. Camille Le Roy
2. Nina Tervelde
3. Thomas Engels
4. Florian T Muijres

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study addresses how wing morphology and kinematics change across hoverflies of different body sizes. The authors provide convincing evidence that there is no significant correlation between body size and wing kinematics across 28 species and instead argue that non-trivial changes in wing size and shape evolved to support flight across the size range. Overall, this paper illustrates the power and beauty of an integrative approach to animal biomechanics and will be of broad interest to biologists, physicists and engineers.

Reviewed by eLife

Human genetic ancestry, Mycobacterium tuberculosis diversity and tuberculosis disease severity in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

1. Michaela Zwyer
2. Zhi Ming Xu
3. Amanda Ross
4. Jerry Hella
5. Mohamed Sasamalo
6. Maxime Rotival
7. Hellen Hiza
8. Liliana K Rutaihwa
9. Sonia Borrell
10. Klaus Reither
11. Jacques Fellay
12. Damien Portevin
13. Lluis Quintana-Murci
14. Sebastien Gagneux
15. Daniela Brites

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable observational study was conducted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to investigate potential associations between genetic variation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and human host vs. disease severity. The authors conclude that human genetic ancestry did not contribute to tuberculosis severity and the evidence supporting this is generally convincing. The findings have significance for the understanding of the influence of host/bacillary genetics on tuberculosis disease.

Reviewed by eLife

Genetic parallels in biomineralization of the calcareous sponge Sycon ciliatum and stony corals

1. Oliver Voigt
2. Magdalena V Wilde
3. Thomas Fröhlich
4. Benedetta Fradusco
5. Sergio Vargas
6. Gert Wörheide

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important paper reports the discovery of calcarins, a protein family that seems to be involved in calcification in the calcareous sponge Sycon ciliatum, significantly enhancing our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying spicule formation in sponges and the evolution of carbonate biomineralization. The conclusions are supported by compelling evidence based on an integrated analysis that combines transcriptomics, genomics, proteomics, and precise in situ hybridization. These findings will be of broad interest to cell biologists, biochemists, and evolutionary biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Rapid promoter evolution of male accessory gland genes is accompanied by divergent expression in closely related Drosophila species

1. David W. J. McQuarrie
2. Frannie H. S. Stephens
3. Alexander D. Ferguson
4. Roland Arnold
5. Alberto Civetta
6. Matthias Soller

Reviewed by Review Commons

Fast evolutionary turnover and overlapping variances of sex-biased gene expression patterns defy a simple binary sex-classification of somatic tissues

1. Chen Xie
2. Sven Künzel
3. Diethard Tautz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents data on sex differences in gene expression across organs of four mice taxa. The authors have generated a unique and convincing dataset that fills a gap left by previous studies. They claim that sex-biased expression in the soma can overlap between genetic males and females, and that the relevant patterns both turn over quickly over short evolutionary times and do so faster in somatic than gonadal tissues. These conclusions could largely have been predicted by extrapolating from previous findings in the field, but nevertheless demonstrating them directly is a fundamental advance.

  [Editorial note: The work was originally assessed by colleagues who are active in the field of evolution of sex differences or in areas adjacent to this field (see initial assessment at https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.99602.2). The appeals process involved consultation with experts working in other areas of evolutionary biology. The above assessment synthesises the opinions of both sets of reviewers.]

Reviewed by eLife, Arcadia Science

Integrating ethnolinguistic and archaeobotanical data to uncover the origin and dispersal of cultivated sorghum in Africa: a genomic perspective

1. Aude Gilabert
2. Monique Deu
3. Louis Champion
4. Philippe Cubry
5. Armel Donkpegan
6. Jean-François Rami
7. David Pot
8. Yves Vigouroux
9. Christian Leclerc

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

The biogeography of evolutionary radiations on oceanic archipelagos

1. Baptiste Brée
2. Thomas J. Matthews
3. José María Fernández-Palacios
4. Christian Paroissin
5. Kostas A. Triantis
6. Robert J. Whittaker
7. François Rigal

Reviewed by Peer Community in Ecology

Iridescent structural coloration in a crested Cretaceous enantiornithine bird from the Jehol Biota

1. Zhiheng Li
2. Jinsheng Hu
3. Thomas A Stidham
4. Mao Ye
5. Min Wang
6. Yanhong Pan
7. Tao Zhao
8. Jingshu Li
9. Zhonghe Zhou
10. Julia A Clarke

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a potentially fundamental analysis of a fossil feather from a 125-million-year-old enantiornithine bird. Using sophisticated 3D microscopic and numerical methods, the authors conclude that the feather was iridescent and brightly colored, possibly indicating that this was a male bird that used its crest in sexual displays. At present, the strength of evidence supporting the conclusions is considered incomplete based on methodological shortcomings and questions about taphonomy.

Reviewed by eLife

Convergent Cellular Adaptation to Freeze-Thaw Stress via a Quiescence-like State in Yeast

1. Charuhansini Tvishamayi
2. Farhan Ali
3. Nandita Chaturvedi
4. Nithila Madhu-Kumar
5. Zeenat Rashida
6. Chandan Muni Reddy
7. Ankita Ray
8. Stephan Herminghaus
9. Shashi Thutupalli

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study demonstrates that yeast populations can rapidly evolve freeze-thaw tolerance by converging on a trehalose-rich, quiescence-like state, illuminating a general physiological route to extreme-stress adaptation. The evidence is solid, combining rigorous experimental-evolution design with multi-scale phenotyping, biophysical measurements, whole-genome sequencing, and quantitative modeling that together support the mechanistic conclusions. Questions about the novelty relative to prior growth/stress tolerance links, the precise genetic versus non-genetic drivers of trehalose up-regulation, and the breadth of independently evolved lines. These are areas for clarification, but these do not substantially weaken the overall contribution.

Reviewed by eLife

Weak evidence for heritable changes in response to selection by aphids in Arabidopsis accessions

1. Marc W Schmid
2. Klara Kropivšek
3. Samuel E Wuest
4. Bernhard Schmid
5. Ueli Grossniklaus

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper examines selection on induced epigenetic variation ("Lamarckian evolution") in response to herbivory in Arabidopsis thaliana. The authors find weak evidence for such adaptation, which contrasts with a recently published study that reported extensive heritable variation induced by the environment. The authors convincingly demonstrate that the findings of the previous study were confounded by mix-ups of genetically distinct material, so that standing genetic variation was mistaken for acquired (epigenetic) variation. Given the controversy surrounding the influence of heritable epigenetic variation on phenotypic variation and adaptation, this study is an important, clarifying contribution; it serves as a timely reminder that sequence-based verification of genetic material should be prioritized when either genetic identity or divergence is of importance to the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife