Evolutionary Biology

An evolutionarily conserved Hox-Gbx segmentation code in the rice coral Montipora capitata

1. Shuonan He
2. Emma Rangel-Huerta
3. Eric Hill
4. Lacey Ellington
5. Shiyuan (Cynthia) Chen
6. Sofia Robb
7. Eva Majerová
8. Crawford Drury
9. Matthew C Gibson

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors studied the development of mesentery borders in the rice coral Montipora, a new experimental system, to complement existing data from the sea anemone Nematostella. They make a solid case that in Montipora, there is a sequence of Hox-Gbx genes whose staggered expression in the unsegmented larva is suggestive of their role in subdividing the gastric cavity into repeated units bordered by mesenteries, as in the sea anemone Nematostella. Pharmacological experiments also point to the involvement of the BMP pathway in this process, but additional experiments validating this are necessary. This is a valuable contribution to the field of cnidarian evolution, suggesting that BMP- and "Hox-Gbx code"-dependent patterning of the directive axis was ancestral for Anthozoa.

Reviewed by eLife

Template switching during DNA replication is a prevalent source of adaptive gene amplification

1. Julie N Chuong
2. Nadav Ben Nun
3. Ina Suresh
4. Julia Cano Matthews
5. Titir De
6. Grace Avecilla
7. Farah Abdul-Rahman
8. Nathan Brandt
9. Yoav Ram
10. David Gresham

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides important new insights into the contributions of local DNA features to the complex molecular mechanisms and dynamics of copy number variation (CNV) formation during adaptive evolution. While limited to a single CNV of interest, the study is well-designed and carefully controlled, presenting compelling evidence that supports the conclusions. This work will be of general interest to those studying genome architecture and evolution from yeast biologists to cancer researchers.

Reviewed by eLife

Quantifying microbial fitness in high-throughput experiments

1. Justus Wilhelm Fink
2. Michael Manhart

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript applies a theoretical analysis to two published datasets on yeast and bacterial evolution to compare different ways of quantifying fitness. It makes an important advance by clarifying how discrepancies can arise by using different approaches and provides recommendations for best practices. While the evidence is solid, some improvements in the presentation of the data and a greater focus on the causes of the discrepancies between the various fitness estimates would strengthen the paper further.

Reviewed by eLife

Genotypic and phenotypic consequences of domestication in dogs

1. Sweetalana
2. Shirin Nataneli
3. Shengmiao Huang
4. Jazlyn A Mooney
5. Zachary A Szpiech

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Performance and Robustness of Parameter Estimation from Phylogenetic Trees Using Neural Networks

1. Tianjian Qin
2. Koen J. van Benthem
3. Luis Valente
4. Rampal S. Etienne

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Adaptive cellular evolution in the intestinal tracts of hyperdiverse African cichlid fishes

1. Antoine Fages
2. Maëva Luxey
3. Fabrizia Ronco
4. Charlotte E.T. Huyghe
5. P. Navaneeth Krishna Menon
6. Adrian Indermaur
7. Walter Salzburger
8. Patrick Tschopp

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

The emergence and evolution of gene expression in genome regions replete with regulatory motifs

1. Timothy Fuqua
2. Yiqiao Sun
3. Andreas Wagner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study explores the relationship between the sequence of prokaryotic promoter elements and their activity using mutagenesis to generate thousands of mutant sequences. The evidence supporting these findings is convincing. This work will appeal to those interested in bacterial genetics, genome evolution, and gene regulation.

Reviewed by eLife

In silico evolution of globular protein folds from random sequences

1. Harutyun Sahakyan
2. Sanasar G. Babajanyan
3. Yuri I. Wolf
4. Eugene V. Koonin

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

First evidence for the evolution of host manipulation by tumors during the long-term vertical transmission of tumor cells in Hydra oligactis

1. Justine Boutry
2. Océane Rieu
3. Lena Guimard
4. Jordan Meliani
5. Aurora M Nedelcu
6. Sophie Tissot
7. Nikita Stepanskyy
8. Beata Ujvari
9. Rodrigo Hamede
10. Antoine M Dujon
11. Jácint Tökölyi
12. Fréderic Thomas

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This interesting study explores whether tumor cells can manipulate their Hydra hosts, and includes important findings on the consequences for the fitness of the host Hydra. The evidence supporting these findings is convincing. The work will be of broad interest to many fields including development biology, evolutionary biology and tumor biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Most Beefalo cattle have no detectable bison genetic ancestry

1. Beth Shapiro
2. Jonas Oppenheimer
3. Michael P Heaton
4. Kristen L Kuhn
5. Richard E Green
6. Harvey D Blackburn
7. Timothy PL Smith

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study used whole genome data to investigate Beefalo ancestry for the first time. It provides insight into the genetics of Beefalo cattle, definitively challenging the long-held claim of 37.5% buffalo ancestry reported by the American Beefalo Association. This results are convincing, with a comprehensive range of well-established population genomics methods being used to estimate ancestry in these animals. This work will be of significant interest to evolutionary biologists, population geneticists, animal breeders, and those involved in the conservation genetics of bovine species.

Reviewed by eLife