Evolutionary Biology

The environmental context of the Middle-to-Late Stone Age Transition in eastern Africa: seasonality as a key factor

1. Marianna Fusco
2. Behailu Habte
3. Alice Leplongeon
4. Andrea Manica
5. Enza Elena Spinapolice
6. Michela Leonardi

Reviewed by Peer Community in Archaeology

Constraints on the G1/S transition pathway may favor selection of multicellularity as a passenger phenotype

1. Tom Louis Ducrocq
2. Damien Laporte
3. Bertrand Daignan-Fornier

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study implicates that changes in cell regulation may contribute to the evolution of multicellularity. The evidence supporting the conclusions is convincing, with rigorous methods used to test alternative hypotheses. The work will be of broad interest to cell and evolutionary biologists and those studying the cell cycle and cancer.

Reviewed by eLife

Improved genome assembly of whale shark, the world’s biggest fish: revealing “chromocline” in intragenomic heterogeneity

1. Yawako W. Kawaguchi
2. Rui Matsumoto
3. Shigehiro Kuraku

Reviewed by GigaScience

The fate of recessive deleterious or overdominant mutations near mating-type loci under partial selfing

1. Emilie Tezenas
2. Tatiana Giraud
3. Amandine Véber
4. Sylvain Billiard

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

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 study provides valuable insight into stress biology by showing that yeast populations can rapidly evolve a trehalose producing resting state that substantially improves survival and rapid regrowth after freeze-thaw. This finding is consistent with the role of trehalose metabolism as a biophysical adaptation that is broadly relevant to the community working on environmental resilience and dormancy. The evidence is convincing: the authors integrate experimental evolution, cell-level biophysical measurements, and modelling in a mutually reinforcing manner.

Reviewed by eLife

Adaptive variation in avian eggshell gas conductance and structure across elevational gradients?

1. David Ocampo
2. Carlos Daniel Cadena
3. Esteban Correa-Agudelo
4. Marcela Hernández Hoyos
5. Gustavo A Londoño

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study provides evidence, albeit still incomplete, that high-elevation species lose water at slower rates than low-elevation species. The findings imply that egg physiology may be a factor limiting the distributional range of bird species. While this work reinforces the need for all life stages to be considered when evaluating physiological adjustment to climate change, the analyses as presented by the authors do not clearly highlight the specific impact of species differences in influencing these adjustments.

Reviewed by eLife

Gene-Culture Coevolution Favours the Emergence of Traditions in Mate Choice through Conformist Social Learning

1. D. Federico
2. M. Cosme
3. F.X. Dechaume-Moncharmont
4. J.B. Ferdy
5. A. Pocheville

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

Recombination shapes the diversification of the wtf meiotic drivers

1. Yan Wang
2. Hao Xu
3. Qinliu He
4. Zhiwei Wu
5. Zhen Gong
6. Guan-Zhu Han

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study provides one mechanism that can explain the rapid diversification of poison-antidote pairs in fission yeast: recombination between existing pairs. The evidence is largely solid, but the study needs to tune down its claims (as it is not shown that the novel poison-antidote can serve as a meiotic driver), and to address small experimental requests. The work is of interest to scientists studying genetic incompatibilities.

Reviewed by eLife

High-throughput neutralization measurements correlate strongly with evolutionary success of human influenza strains

1. Caroline Kikawa
2. Andrea N Loes
3. John Huddleston
4. Marlin D Figgins
5. Philippa Steinberg
6. Tachianna Griffiths
7. Elizabeth M Drapeau
8. Heidi Peck
9. Ian Barr
10. Janet A Englund
11. Scott E Hensley
12. Trevor Bedford
13. Jesse D Bloom

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental study advances our understanding of population-level immune responses to influenza in both children and adults. The strength of the evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling, with high-throughput profiling assays and mathematical modeling. The work will be of interest to immunologists, virologists, vaccine developers, and those working on mathematical modeling of infectious diseases.

Reviewed by eLife

The effect of gene tree dependence on summary methods for species tree inference

1. Wanting He
2. Celine Scornavacca
3. Yao-ban Chan

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology