Evolutionary Biology

The paradox of extremely fast evolution driven by genetic drift in multi-copy gene systems

1. Xiaopei Wang
2. Yongsen Ruan
3. Lingjie Zhang
4. Xiangnyu Chen
5. Zongkun Shi
6. Haiyu Wang
7. Bingjie Chen
8. Miles Tracy
9. Liying Huang
10. Chung-I Wu
11. Haijun Wen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a useful theoretical model of molecular evolution of multi-copy gene systems by extending the classic Haldane model and applies the model to explain the surprisingly rapid evolution of rRNA genes. Although the conceptual model is intuitive and provides a new perspective for contextualizing this problem, the model presented does not adequately consider plausible biological constraints on the molecular and genetic processes. The lack of such constraints in the model, along with technical issues in the data analysis, provide incomplete support for the conclusion that the genetic variation patterns of rRNA genes in mouse is compatible with neutral evolution.

Reviewed by eLife

The Generalized Haldane (GH) model tracking population size changes and resolving paradoxes of genetic drift

1. Yongsen Ruan
2. Xiaopei Wang
3. Mei Hou
4. Liying Huang
5. Wenjie Diao
6. Miles Tracy
7. Shuhua Xu
8. Weiwei Zhai
9. Zhongqi Liufu
10. Haijun Wen
11. Chung-I Wu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a useful model of genetic drift by incorporating variance in reproductive success, aiming to address several apparent paradoxes in molecular evolution. However, some of the apparent paradoxes only arise in the most basic version of standard models and have been reconciled in more advanced models. Nonetheless, this paper offers intuitive explanations for these apparent paradoxes, by adopting a new perspective and solid modeling and analysis. More broadly, the proposed model provides an alternative framework to address puzzling observations in molecular evolution, which will be of interest to evolutionary and population geneticists.

Reviewed by eLife

Rafting a waterfall: Artificial selection for collective composition can succeed or fail depending on the initial and target values

1. Juhee Lee
2. Wenying Shou
3. Hye Jin Park

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study of artificial selection in microbial communities shows that the possibility of selecting a desired fraction of slow and fast-growing types is impacted by their initial fractions. The evidence, which relies on mathematical analysis and simulations of a stochastic model, is compelling. It highlights the tension between selection at the strain and the community level. This study should be of interest to researchers interested in ecology, both theoretical and experimental.

Reviewed by eLife

No evidence for a trade-off between reproduction and survival in a meta-analysis across birds

1. Lucy A Winder
2. Mirre JP Simons
3. Terry Burke

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study challenges conventional life-history theory by demonstrating that reproductive-survival trade-offs are minimal in birds, except when reproductive effort is experimentally exaggerated. The evidence is solid, drawing from a meta-analysis of over 30 bird species, and effectively separates the effects of individual quality from reproductive costs. The findings will be of broad interest to evolutionary biologists and ecologists studying life-history trade-offs and reproductive strategies.

Reviewed by eLife

The adaptive landscapes of three global Escherichia coli transcriptional regulators

1. Cauã Antunes Westmann
2. Leander Goldbach
3. Andreas Wagner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study maps the genotype-phenotype landscapes of three E. coli transcription factors and the topographical features of these landscapes. It shows that ruggedness and epistasis do not hinder the evolution of strong transcription factor binding sites. These convincing findings contribute valuable insights into fitness landscape theories and highlight the role of chance, contingency, and evolutionary biases in gene regulation. The authors then study the topographical features of these landscapes, especially the number and distribution of local maxima, as well as the statistical properties of evolutionary paths on these landscapes.

Reviewed by eLife

Seasonally migratory songbirds have different historic population size characteristics than resident relatives

1. Kevin Winker
2. Kira Delmore

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is a valuable study of the role that life history differences might play in determining population size and demography. While concerns about generation times and population structure leave the evidence for the claims in parts incomplete, the work is of considerable interest to anyone who tries to understand evolutionary consequences of life history changes.

Reviewed by eLife

Reconstructing the phylogeny and evolutionary history of freshwater fishes (Nemacheilidae) across Eurasia since early Eocene

1. Vendula Bohlen Šlechtová
2. Tomáš Dvořák
3. Jörg Freyhof
4. Maurice Kottelat
5. Boris Levin
6. Alexander Golubtsov
7. Vlastimil Šlechta
8. Joerg Bohlen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  In this important study, the authors reconstruct the evolutionary history of a large and widespread group of freshwater fishes (Nemacheilidae) across Eurasia since the early Eocene, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis with very comprehensive samplings including 471 specimens belonging to 250 living species. The authors convincingly infer that range expansions of the family were facilitated by tectonic connections, favorable climatic conditions, and orogenic processes, adding to our understanding of the effects of climatic change on biodiversity during the Cenozoic. This work is of interest to evolutionary biologists, ichthyologists, paleontologists, and general readers.

Reviewed by eLife

Brain size dependent speciation and extinction rates in birds and the cognitive buffer hypothesis

1. Jack W. Oyston
2. Michael R. May
3. Ryan N Felice

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

Discordant population structure inferred from male- and female-type mtDNAs from Macoma balthica, a bivalve species characterized by doubly uniparental inheritance of mitochondria

1. Sabrina Le Cam
2. Julie Brémaud
3. Vanessa Becquet
4. Valérie Huet
5. Emmanuel Dubillot
6. Pascale Garcia
7. Amélia Viricel
8. Sophie Breton
9. Eric Pante

Reviewed by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology

Variations and predictability of epistasis on an intragenic fitness landscape

1. Sarvesh Baheti
2. Namratha Raj
3. Supreet Saini

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper addresses the important question of quantifying epistasis patterns, which affect the predictability of evolution, by reanalyzing a recently published combinatorial deep mutational scan experiment. The findings are that epistasis is fluid, i.e. strongly background dependent, but that fitness effects of mutations are predictable based on the wild-type phenotype. However, these potentially interesting claims are inadequately supported by the analysis, because measurement noise is not accounted for, arbitrary cutoffs are used, and global nonlinearities are not sufficiently considered. If the results continue to hold after these major improvements in the analysis, they should be of interest to all biologists working in the field of fitness landscapes.

Reviewed by eLife