Evolutionary Biology

Pre-Cambrian origin of envelope-carrying retrotransposons in metazoans

1. Shashank Chary
2. Rippei Hayashi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study provides convincing evidence that envelope-carrying Ty3/gypsy retrotransposons (errantiviruses) are ancient, widespread, and actively expanding across nearly all major animal phyla. Using comprehensive phylogenetic and AlphaFold2-based structural analyses, the authors show that these elements independently acquired membrane fusion proteins early in metazoan evolution, likely predating the bilaterian-non-bilaterian split. While some aspects could be more clearly contextualized and explained better, the work offers insights into the deep evolutionary roots of retroelement-envelope associations and the origins of retroviruses.

Reviewed by eLife

Using General Algebra to Model the Directed Evolution of an Asexual Population

1. Kangbien Park

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Heterogeneity of genetic sequence within quasi-species of influenza virus revealed by single-molecule sequencing

1. Kenji Tamao
2. Hiroyuki Noji
3. Kazuhito Tabata

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study is an important contribution to the field of viral sequencing, providing methods for more accurate characterization of viral genetic diversity using long-read sequencing and unique molecular identifiers (UMIs). Although it is a small pilot study, it shows promise as a convincing, validated methodology with broad applicability.

Reviewed by eLife

Lifestyles shape genome size and gene content in fungal pathogens

1. Anna Fijarczyk
2. Pauline Hessenauer
3. Richard Hamelin
4. Christian R Landry

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study addresses a topic that is frequently discussed in the literature but is under-assessed, namely correlations among genome size, repeat content, and pathogenicity in fungi. Contrary to previous assertions, the authors found that repeat content is not associated with pathogenicity. Rather, pathogenic lifestyle was found to be better explained by the number of protein-coding genes, with other genomic features associated with insect association status. The results are considered solid, although there remain concerns about potential biases stemming from the underlying data quality of the analyzed genomes.

Reviewed by eLife

A model for background selection in non-equilibrium populations

1. Gustavo V. Barroso
2. Aaron P. Ragsdale

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

Sex chromosomes and chromosomal rearrangements are key to behavioural sexual isolation in Jaera albifrons marine isopods

1. Ambre Ribardiere
2. Claire Daguin-Thiebaut
3. Jerome Coudret
4. Gildas Le Corguille
5. Komlan Avia
6. Celine Houbin
7. Stephane Loisel
8. Pierre-Alexandre Gagnaire
9. Thomas Broquet

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

Beyond venomous fangs: Uloboridae spiders have lost their venom but not their toxicity

1. Xiaojing Peng
2. Ludwig Dersch
3. Josephine Dresler
4. Tim Lüddecke
5. Tim Dederichs
6. Peter Michalik
7. Steve Peigneur
8. Jan Tytgat
9. Afrah Hassan
10. Antonio Mucciolo
11. Marc Robinson-Rechavi
12. Giulia Zancolli

Reviewed by preLights

Increased clonality and genetic differentiation across the Arctic Ocean in tetraploid sea anemone Aulactinia stella

1. Ekaterina Bocharova
2. Aleksandr Volkov
3. Solenn Stoeckel

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

Assessing the potential of ancient protein sequences in the study of hominid evolution

1. Ioannis Patramanis
2. Laurits Skov
3. Enrico Cappellini
4. Fernando Racimo

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

Evaluating the impact and detectability of mass extinctions on total-evidence dating

1. Minghao Du
2. Wenhui Wang
3. Jingqiang Tan
4. Joëlle Barido-Sottani

Reviewed by preLights