Evolutionary Biology

The protein domains of vertebrate species in which selection is more effective have greater intrinsic structural disorder

1. Catherine A Weibel
2. Andrew L Wheeler
3. Jennifer E James
4. Sara M Willis
5. Hanon McShea
6. Joanna Masel

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study develops a useful metric for quantifying codon usage adaptation - the Codon Adaptation Index of Species (CAIS). This metric permits direct comparisons of the strength of selection at the molecular level across species. The study is based on solid evidence, and the authors identify relationships between CAIS and the presence of disordered protein domains. Other correlations, such as the one between CAIS and body size, are weak and non-significant. In summary, the study introduces an interesting new approach to quantifying codon usage across species, which may be helpful in attempts to measure selection at the molecular level.

Reviewed by eLife

Annelid comparative genomics and the evolution of massive lineage-specific genome rearrangement in bilaterians

1. Thomas D. Lewin
2. Isabel Jiah-Yih Liao
3. Yi-Jyun Luo

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Genomic Signatures of Domestication in a Fungus Obligately Farmed by Leafcutter Ants

1. Caio A. Leal-Dutra
2. Joel Vizueta
3. Tobias Baril
4. Pepijn W. Kooij
5. Asta Rødsgaard-Jørgensen
6. Benjamin H. Schantz-Conlon
7. Daniel Croll
8. Jonathan Z. Shik

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Environment by environment interactions (ExE) differ across genetic backgrounds (ExExG)

1. Kara Schmidlin
2. C. Brandon Ogbunugafor
3. Alexander Sastokas
4. Kerry Geiler-Samerotte

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex pangenome is small and driven by sub-lineage-specific regions of difference

1. Mahboobeh Behruznia
2. Maximillian Marin
3. Maha Farhat
4. Jonathan C Thomas
5. Maria Rosa Domingo-Sananes
6. Conor J Meehan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This useful study investigates the evolution of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex (MTBC) pangenome using state-of-the-art bioinformatic tools to analyse 324 complete and 11 new genomes representing all known lineages and sublineages, yielding data indicating that MTBC has a closed pangenome with relatively few accessory genes. The strength of the evidence is solid for gene presence-absence analysis and inadequate for the deletion bias claim. Their conclusions regarding pangenome evolution being driven by deletions in sublineage-specific regions of difference are difficult to interpret due to the description of methods not being complete and data interpretation not being adequate.

Reviewed by eLife

The genetic architecture of the load linked to dominant and recessive self-incompatibility alleles in Arabidopsis halleri and Arabidopsis lyrata

1. Audrey Le Veve
2. Mathieu Genete
3. Christelle Lepers-Blassiau
4. Chloé Ponitzki
5. Céline Poux
6. Xavier Vekemans
7. Eleonore Durand
8. Vincent Castric

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study presents valuable empirical work and simulations that are relevant for the evolution of genetic load linked to self-incompatibility alleles in two Arabidopsis species. The evidence supporting the findings is solid, although it remains to be seen how generalizable the conclusions are beyond the specific system investigated here, not least because the statistical significance varied between the two species. The work will be of relevance to geneticists interested in the evolution of allelic diversity in similar systems.

Reviewed by eLife

Estimates of molecular convergence reveal pleiotropic genes underlying adaptive variation across teleost fish

1. Agneesh Barua
2. Brice Beinsteiner
3. Vincent Laudet
4. Marc Robinson-Rechavi

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Biocalcification in porcelaneous foraminifera

1. Zofia Dubicka
2. Jarosław Tyszka
3. Agnieszka Pałczyńska
4. Michelle Höhne
5. Jelle Bijma
6. Max Jense
7. Nienke Klerks
8. Ulf Bickmeyer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript provides important information on the calcification process, especially the properties and formation of freshly formed tests (the foraminiferan shells), in the miliolid foraminiferan species Pseudolachlanella eburnea. The evidence from the high-quality SEM images is convincing although the fluorescence images only provide indirect support for the calcification process.

Reviewed by eLife

Dynamic simulations of feeding and respiration of the early Cambrian periderm-bearing cnidarian polyps

1. Yiheng Zhang
2. Xing Wang
3. Jian Han
4. Juyue Xiao
5. Yuanyuan Yong
6. Chiyang Yu
7. Ning Yue
8. Jie Sun
9. Kaiyue He
10. Wenjing Hao
11. Tao Zhang
12. Bin Wang
13. Deng Wang
14. Xiaoguang Yang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study advances our understanding of early Cambrian cnidarian paleoecology and suggests that the reconstructed ancestral feeding and respiration mechanisms predate jet-propelled swimming utilized by modern jellyfish. The work combines solid evidence of fluid and structural mechanics modeling, simulating for the first time the feeding and respiratory capacities in a microfossil (Quadrapyrgites), which in turn opens new possibilities using this approach for paleontological research. Assuming that the prior interpretations and assumptions concerning the modeled organism's soft part and skeletal anatomy are correct, the hypotheses that (1) the organism could alternately contract and expand the oral region and (2) such movement increased feeding efficiency seem plausible.

Reviewed by eLife

Identification of the mode of evolution in incomplete carbonate successions

1. Niklas Hohmann
2. Joël R Koelewijn
3. Peter Burgess
4. Emilia Jarochowska

Reviewed by Peer Community in Paleontology