Evolutionary Biology

Accumulated metagenomic studies reveal recent migration, whole genome evolution, and undiscovered diversity of orthomyxoviruses

1. Gytis Dudas
2. Joshua Batson

Reviewed by Review Commons

Epidermal threads reveal the origin of hagfish slime

1. Yu Zeng
2. David C Plachetzki
3. Kristen Nieders
4. Hannah Campbell
5. Marissa Cartee
6. M Sabrina Pankey
7. Kennedy Guillen
8. Douglas Fudge

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The study is a careful investigation of the physical properties of hagfish slime and the underlying cellular framework that enables this extraordinary evolutionary innovation. It is a careful and detailed measurement with clear images. However, there is a need for a better contextualizing of the findings as a broader biological question, including the evolution of functional novelty, the adaptive processes, and the links between genetic and phenotypic evolution. Furthermore, the conclusions on the evolutionary origins and underlying genetics of hagfish slime based on comparative transcriptomic data need to be better supported.

Reviewed by eLife

An oligogenic architecture underlying ecological and reproductive divergence in sympatric populations

1. Dušica Briševac
2. Carolina M Peralta
3. Tobias S Kaiser

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This potentially important article identifies an apparent oligogenic architecture for an ecologically relevant trait, the circalunar reproduction of marine midges, which contributes to assortative mating, is likely under divergent selection, and supports reproductive isolation in sympathy. A claim for a causal role of chromosomal inversions in this system is made, but the support for this claim is incomplete.

Reviewed by eLife

The landscape of antibody binding affinity in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 evolution

1. Alief Moulana
2. Thomas Dupic
3. Angela M Phillips
4. Jeffrey Chang
5. Anne A Roffler
6. Allison J Greaney
7. Tyler N Starr
8. Jesse D Bloom
9. Michael M Desai

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work provides important new insights into the mutational pathways of SARS-CoV-2 to achieve antibody escape, as well as how these pathways are shaped by epistasis. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling based on rigorous analyses of data from a high-throughput binding assay. The study is important for evolutionary medicine and biology and relevant for human health.

Reviewed by eLife

The deep-rooted origin of disulfide-rich spider venom toxins

1. Naeem Yusuf Shaikh
2. Kartik Sunagar

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an important survey of disulfide-rich peptides (DRPs), which comprise a large fraction of the most functionally important components of spider venom. While spider DRPs were thought to have evolved independently numerous times throughout the spider tree of life, the authors make a solid case for the idea that they all stem from a single common ancestral protein. The study makes a significant advance towards formalizing the diversity of spider venoms, which will be of interest both to scientists working on protein evolution and to those working on functional venomics.

Reviewed by eLife

Spatiotemporal ecological chaos enables gradual evolutionary diversification without niches or tradeoffs

1. Aditya Mahadevan
2. Michael T Pearce
3. Daniel S Fisher

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study explores the question of "what gives rise to micro-diversity in ecological settings", and proposes a scenario of spatiotemporal chaos, in which interactions between strains drive large changes in the relative abundances of strains. The presented theoretical approach is compelling and goes beyond the current state of the art. This innovative theoretical work is of broad interest to the field of ecology and evolution.

Reviewed by eLife

Hierarchical sequence-affinity landscapes shape the evolution of breadth in an anti-influenza receptor binding site antibody

1. Angela M Phillips
2. Daniel P Maurer
3. Caelan Brooks
4. Thomas Dupic
5. Aaron G Schmidt
6. Michael M Desai

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this valuable study, authors convincingly show that epistasis between mutations plays an important role in the evolution of broadly neutralizing influenza antibodies. Although the data are convincing, several parts of the manuscript require more accurate description.

Reviewed by eLife

Joint inference of evolutionary transitions to self-fertilization and demographic history using whole-genome sequences

1. Stefan Strütt
2. Thibaut Sellinger
3. Sylvain Glémin
4. Aurélien Tellier
5. Stefan Laurent

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript details the valuable development of population genetics theory that can be used to infer past changes in the selfing rate in natural populations. The inference procedure is solid, although the comparison to previous estimates can be improved, and deeper insight could be gained from further theoretical exploration. The work will be of broad interest to the field of mating systems evolution.

Reviewed by eLife

Microstructural and crystallographic evolution of palaeognath (Aves) eggshells

1. Seung Choi
2. Mark E Hauber
3. Lucas J Legendre
4. Noe-Heon Kim
5. Yuong-Nam Lee
6. David J Varricchio

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This fundamental study represents a significant advance in our understanding of the complex evolutionary history of the eggshell features in one of the main leaving bird lineages, Palaeognathae, with compelling and thoughtfully presented results. The work will be of interest to many biologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Expansion and loss of sperm nuclear basic protein genes in Drosophila correspond with genetic conflicts between sex chromosomes

1. Ching-Ho Chang
2. Isabel Mejia Natividad
3. Harmit S Malik

Reviewed by Review Commons