1
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Cummins M, Watson C, Edwards RJ, Mattick JS. The Evolution of Ultraconserved Elements in Vertebrates. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae146. [PMID: 39058500 PMCID: PMC11276968 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2024] [Revised: 06/29/2024] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 07/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Ultraconserved elements were discovered two decades ago, arbitrarily defined as sequences that are identical over a length ≥ 200 bp in the human, mouse, and rat genomes. The definition was subsequently extended to sequences ≥ 100 bp identical in at least three of five mammalian genomes (including dog and cow), and shown to have undergone rapid expansion from ancestors in fish and strong negative selection in birds and mammals. Since then, many more genomes have become available, allowing better definition and more thorough examination of ultraconserved element distribution and evolutionary history. We developed a fast and flexible analytical pipeline for identifying ultraconserved elements in multiple genomes, dedUCE, which allows manipulation of minimum length, sequence identity, and number of species with a detectable ultraconserved element according to specified parameters. We suggest an updated definition of ultraconserved elements as sequences ≥ 100 bp and ≥97% sequence identity in ≥50% of placental mammal orders (12,813 ultraconserved elements). By mapping ultraconserved elements to ∼200 species, we find that placental ultraconserved elements appeared early in vertebrate evolution, well before land colonization, suggesting that the evolutionary pressures driving ultraconserved element selection were present in aquatic environments in the Cambrian-Devonian periods. Most (>90%) ultraconserved elements likely appeared after the divergence of gnathostomes from jawless predecessors, were largely established in sequence identity by early Sarcopterygii evolution-before the divergence of lobe-finned fishes from tetrapods-and became near fixed in the amniotes. Ultraconserved elements are mainly located in the introns of protein-coding and noncoding genes involved in neurological and skeletomuscular development, enriched in regulatory elements, and dynamically expressed throughout embryonic development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitchell Cummins
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Cadel Watson
- School of Engineering, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Richard J Edwards
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - John S Mattick
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
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2
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Gaede AH, Wu PH, Leitch DB. Variations in touch representation in the hummingbird and zebra finch forebrain. Curr Biol 2024; 34:2739-2747.e3. [PMID: 38815578 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Revised: 03/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
Somatosensation is essential for animals to perceive the external world through touch, allowing them to detect physical contact, temperature, pain, and body position. Studies on rodent vibrissae have highlighted the organization and processing in mammalian somatosensory pathways.1,2 Comparative research across vertebrates is vital for understanding evolutionary influences and ecological specialization on somatosensory systems. Birds, with their diverse morphologies, sensory abilities, and behaviors, serve as ideal models for investigating the evolution of somatosensation. Prior studies have uncovered tactile-responsive areas within the avian telencephalon, particularly in pigeons,3,4,5,6 parrots,7 and finches,8 but variations in somatosensory maps and responses across avian species are not fully understood. This study aims to explore somatotopic organization and neural coding in the telencephalon of Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) and zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) by using in vivo extracellular electrophysiology to record activity in response to controlled tactile stimuli on various body regions. These findings reveal unique representations of body regions across distinct forebrain somatosensory nuclei, indicating significant differences in the extent of areas dedicated to certain body surfaces, which may correlate with their behavioral importance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea H Gaede
- Structure and Motion Laboratory, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, 4 Royal College Street, London NW1 0TU, UK.
| | - Pei-Hsuan Wu
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, #3051 - 6270 University Blvd. Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Duncan B Leitch
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, #3051 - 6270 University Blvd. Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada; Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, 621 Charles E. Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
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3
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Chiarenza AA, Cantalapiedra JL, Jones LA, Gamboa S, Galván S, Farnsworth AJ, Valdes PJ, Sotelo G, Varela S. Early Jurassic origin of avian endothermy and thermophysiological diversity in dinosaurs. Curr Biol 2024; 34:2517-2527.e4. [PMID: 38754424 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2024] [Revised: 03/25/2024] [Accepted: 04/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
A fundamental question in dinosaur evolution is how they adapted to long-term climatic shifts during the Mesozoic and when they developed environmentally independent, avian-style acclimatization, becoming endothermic.1,2 The ability of warm-blooded dinosaurs to flourish in harsher environments, including cold, high-latitude regions,3,4 raises intriguing questions about the origins of key innovations shared with modern birds,5,6 indicating that the development of homeothermy (keeping constant body temperature) and endothermy (generating body heat) played a crucial role in their ecological diversification.7 Despite substantial evidence across scientific disciplines (anatomy,8 reproduction,9 energetics,10 biomechanics,10 osteohistology,11 palaeobiogeography,12 geochemistry,13,14 and soft tissues15,16,17), a consensus on dinosaur thermophysiology remains elusive.1,12,15,17,18,19 Differential thermophysiological strategies among terrestrial tetrapods allow endotherms (birds and mammals) to expand their latitudinal range (from the tropics to polar regions), owing to their reduced reliance on environmental temperature.20 By contrast, most reptilian lineages (squamates, turtles, and crocodilians) and amphibians are predominantly constrained by temperature in regions closer to the tropics.21 Determining when this macroecological pattern emerged in the avian lineage relies heavily on identifying the origin of these key physiological traits. Combining fossils with macroevolutionary and palaeoclimatic models, we unveil distinct evolutionary pathways in the main dinosaur lineages: ornithischians and theropods diversified across broader climatic landscapes, trending toward cooler niches. An Early Jurassic shift to colder climates in Theropoda suggests an early adoption of endothermy. Conversely, sauropodomorphs exhibited prolonged climatic conservatism associated with higher thermal conditions, emphasizing temperature, rather than plant productivity, as the primary driver of this pattern, suggesting poikilothermy with a stronger dependence on higher temperatures in sauropods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alfio Alessandro Chiarenza
- Centro de Investigación Mariña, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain; Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Place, London WC1E 6BS, UK.
| | - Juan L Cantalapiedra
- Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain; GloCEE Global Change Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad de Alcalá, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Spain; Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Invdralidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Lewis A Jones
- Centro de Investigación Mariña, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
| | - Sara Gamboa
- Centro de Investigación Mariña, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain; Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Av. Séneca 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Sofía Galván
- Centro de Investigación Mariña, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
| | - Alexander J Farnsworth
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK; State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Paul J Valdes
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK; State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources (TPESER), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Graciela Sotelo
- Centro de Investigación Mariña, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
| | - Sara Varela
- Centro de Investigación Mariña, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain
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Zattara EE, Strelin MM. 5th Argentinean Meeting on Evolutionary Biology (RABE V): Report on the "Evo-Devo" Extended Symposium. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY. PART B, MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION 2024; 342:335-341. [PMID: 38686706 DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.23252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2024] [Revised: 03/29/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo) is flourishing in Latin America, particularly Argentina, where researchers are leveraging this integrative field to unlock the secrets of the region's remarkable biodiversity. A recent symposium held at the 5th Argentinean Meeting on Evolutionary Biology (RABE V) showcased a vibrant Evo-Devo community and the diversity of its research endeavors. The symposium included 3 plenary talks, 3 short talks, and 12 posters, and spanned a range of organisms and approaches. Interestingly, the symposium highlighted a prevalence of "top-down" Evo-Devo studies in the region, where researchers first analyze existing diversity and then propose potential developmental mechanisms. This approach, driven in part by financial constraints and the region's historical focus on natural history, presents a unique opportunity to bridge disciplines like comparative biology, paleontology, and botany. The symposium's success underscores the vital role of Evo-Devo in Latin America, not only for advancing our understanding of evolution but also for providing valuable tools to conserve and manage the region's irreplaceable biodiversity. As Evo-Devo continues to grow in Latin America, fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange within the region and beyond will be crucial for realizing the full potential of this transformative field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eduardo E Zattara
- INIBIOMA, Universidad Nacional del Comahue - CONICET, Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina
| | - Marina M Strelin
- INIBIOMA, Universidad Nacional del Comahue - CONICET, Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina
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5
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Wang X, O'Connor J, Zheng X, Wang Y, Kiat Y. Earliest evidence of avian primary feather moult. Biol Lett 2024; 20:20240106. [PMID: 38955226 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Feather moulting is a crucial process in the avian life cycle, which evolved to maintain plumage functionality. However, moulting involves both energetic and functional costs. During moulting, plumage function temporarily decreases between the shedding of old feathers and the full growth of new ones. In flying taxa, a gradual and sequential replacement of flight feathers evolved to maintain aerodynamic capabilities during the moulting period. Little is known about the moult strategies of non-avian pennaraptoran dinosaurs and stem birds, before the emergence of crown lineage. Here, we report on two Early Cretaceous pygostylian birds from the Yixian Formation (125 mya), probably referable to Confuciusornithiformes, exhibiting morphological characteristics that suggest a gradual and sequential moult of wing flight feathers. Short primary feathers interpreted as immature are symmetrically present on both wings, as is typical among extant flying birds. Our survey of the enormous collection of the Tianyu Museum confirms previous findings that evidence of active moult in non-neornithine pennaraptorans is rare and likely indicates a moult cycle greater than one year. Documenting moult in Mesozoic feathered dinosaurs is critical for understanding their ecology, locomotor ability and the evolution of this important life-history process in birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoli Wang
- Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi, Shandong 276005, China
- Tianyu Natural History Museum of Shandong, Pingyi, Shandong 273300, China
- College of Earth Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, Shandong 266590, China
| | - Jingmai O'Connor
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
| | - Xiaoting Zheng
- Tianyu Natural History Museum of Shandong, Pingyi, Shandong 273300, China
| | - Yan Wang
- Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi, Shandong 276005, China
- Tianyu Natural History Museum of Shandong, Pingyi, Shandong 273300, China
| | - Yosef Kiat
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
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6
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Quimbayo JP, Murphy SJ, Jarzyna MA. Functional reorganization of North American wintering avifauna. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14430. [PMID: 38714364 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Revised: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/09/2024]
Abstract
Wintering birds serve as vital climate sentinels, yet they are often overlooked in studies of avian diversity change. Here, we provide a continental-scale characterization of change in multifaceted wintering avifauna and examine the effects of climate change on these dynamics. We reveal a strong functional reorganization of wintering bird communities marked by a north-south gradient in functional diversity change, along with a superimposed mild east-west gradient in trait composition change. Assemblages in the northern United States saw contractions of the functional space and increases in functional evenness and originality, while the southern United States saw smaller contractions of the functional space and stasis in evenness and originality. Shifts in functional diversity were underlined by significant reshuffling in trait composition, particularly pronounced in the western and northern United States. Finally, we find strong contributions of climate change to this functional reorganization, underscoring the importance of wintering birds in tracking climate change impacts on biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan P Quimbayo
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Stephen J Murphy
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | - Marta A Jarzyna
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
- Translational Data Analytics Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
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7
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Setti PG, Deon GA, Zeni Dos Santos R, Goes CAG, Garnero ADV, Gunski RJ, de Oliveira EHC, Porto-Foresti F, de Freitas TRO, Silva FAO, Liehr T, Utsunomia R, Kretschmer R, de Bello Cioffi M. Evolution of bird sex chromosomes: a cytogenomic approach in Palaeognathae species. BMC Ecol Evol 2024; 24:51. [PMID: 38654159 PMCID: PMC11036779 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-024-02230-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Different patterns of sex chromosome differentiation are seen in Palaeognathae birds, a lineage that includes the ratites (Struthioniformes, Rheiformes, Apterygiformes, Casuariiformes, and the sister group Tinamiformes). While some Tinamiform species have well-differentiated W chromosomes, both Z and W of all the flightless ratites are still morphologically undifferentiated. Here, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the ZW differentiation in birds using a combination of cytogenetic, genomic, and bioinformatic approaches. The whole set of satDNAs from the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) was described and characterized. Furthermore, we examined the in situ locations of these satDNAs alongside several microsatellite repeats and carried out Comparative Genomic Hybridizations in two related species: the greater rhea (Rhea americana) and the tataupa tinamou (Crypturellus tataupa). RESULTS From the 24 satDNA families identified (which represent the greatest diversity of satDNAs ever uncovered in any bird species), only three of them were found to accumulate on the emu's sex chromosomes, with no discernible accumulation observed on the W chromosome. The W chromosomes of both the greater rhea and the emu did not exhibit a significant buildup of either C-positive heterochromatin or repetitive DNAs, indicating their large undifferentiation both at morphological and molecular levels. In contrast, the tataupa tinamou has a highly differentiated W chromosome that accumulates several DNA repeats. CONCLUSION The findings provide new information on the architecture of the avian genome and an inside look at the starting points of sex chromosome differentiation in birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Príncia Grejo Setti
- Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 13565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil
| | - Geize Aparecida Deon
- Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 13565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil
| | | | | | - Analía Del Valle Garnero
- Campus São Gabriel, Universidade Federal do Pampa, 97307-020, São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Ricardo José Gunski
- Campus São Gabriel, Universidade Federal do Pampa, 97307-020, São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Edivaldo Herculano Corrêa de Oliveira
- Laboratório de Citogenômica e Mutagênese Ambiental, Seção de Meio Ambiente, Instituto Evandro Chagas, 67030-000, Ananindeua, PA, Brazil
- Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Naturais, Universidade Federal do Pará, 66075-110, Belém, PA, Brazil
| | - Fábio Porto-Foresti
- Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, 17033-360, Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil
| | | | - Fábio Augusto Oliveira Silva
- Laboratório de Citogenômica e Mutagênese Ambiental, Seção de Meio Ambiente, Instituto Evandro Chagas, 67030-000, Ananindeua, PA, Brazil
| | - Thomas Liehr
- Institute of Human Genetics, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich Schiller University, 07747, Jena, Germany.
| | - Ricardo Utsunomia
- Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, 17033-360, Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Rafael Kretschmer
- Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, 96.010-610, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
| | - Marcelo de Bello Cioffi
- Departamento de Genética e Evolução, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 13565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil
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8
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Xu X. Inferring aerial behavior in Mesozoic dinosaurs: Implications and uncertainties. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2401482121. [PMID: 38466860 PMCID: PMC10962949 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2401482121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/13/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Xing Xu
- Centre for Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology, School of Life Sciences, Yunnan University, Chenggong, Kunming650504, China
- Southwest United Graduate School, Kunming650092, China
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100044, China
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9
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Kiat Y, O’Connor JK. Functional constraints on the number and shape of flight feathers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2306639121. [PMID: 38346196 PMCID: PMC10895369 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2306639121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2024] Open
Abstract
As a fundamental ecological aspect of most organisms, locomotor function significantly constrains morphology. At the same time, the evolution of novel locomotor abilities has produced dramatic morphological transformations, initiating some of the most significant diversifications in life history. Despite significant new fossil evidence, it remains unclear whether volant locomotion had a single or multiple origins in pennaraptoran dinosaurs and the volant abilities of individual taxa are controversial. The evolution of powered flight in modern birds involved exaptation of feathered surfaces extending off the limbs and tail yet most studies concerning flight potential in pennaraptorans do not account for the structure and morphology of the wing feathers themselves. Analysis of the number and shape of remex and rectrix feathers across a large dataset of extant birds indicates that the number of remiges and rectrices and the degree of primary vane asymmetry strongly correlate with locomotor ability revealing important functional constraints. Among these traits, phenotypic flexibility varies reflected by the different rates at which morphological changes evolve, such that some traits reflect the ancestral condition, whereas others reflect current locomotor function. While Mesozoic birds and Microraptor have remex morphologies consistent with extant volant birds, that of anchiornithines deviate significantly providing strong evidence this clade was not volant. The results of these analyses support a single origin of dinosaurian flight and indicate the early stages of feathered wing evolution are not sampled by the currently available fossil record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yosef Kiat
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL60605
| | - Jingmai K. O’Connor
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL60605
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10
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Yu C, Watanabe A, Qin Z, Logan King J, Witmer LM, Ma Q, Xu X. Avialan-like brain morphology in Sinovenator (Troodontidae, Theropoda). Commun Biol 2024; 7:168. [PMID: 38341492 PMCID: PMC10858883 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-05832-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Many modifications to the skull and brain anatomy occurred along the lineage encompassing non-avialan theropod dinosaurs and modern birds. Anatomical changes to the endocranium include an enlarged endocranial cavity, relatively larger optic lobes that imply elevated visual acuity, and proportionately smaller olfactory bulbs that suggest reduced olfactory capacity. Here, we use micro-computed tomographic (μCT) imaging to reconstruct the endocranium and its neuroanatomical features from an exceptionally well-preserved skull of Sinovenator changii (Troodontidae, Theropoda). While its overall morphology resembles the typical endocranium of other troodontids, Sinovenator also exhibits unique endocranial features that are similar to other paravian taxa and non-maniraptoran theropods. Landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis on endocranial shape of non-avialan and avialan dinosaurs points to the overall brain morphology of Sinovenator most closely resembling that of Archaeopteryx, thus indicating acquisition of avialan-grade brain morphology in troodontids and wide existence of such architecture in Maniraptora.
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Affiliation(s)
- Congyu Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation & Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China
- Key Laboratory of Deep-time Geography and Environment Reconstruction and Applications of Ministry of Natural Resources, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 10024, USA
| | - Akinobu Watanabe
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 10024, USA
- Department of Anatomy, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY, 11568, USA
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Zichuan Qin
- Palaeontology Research Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK
| | - J Logan King
- Palaeontology Research Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044, China
| | - Lawrence M Witmer
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA
| | - Qingyu Ma
- Chongqing Laboratory of Geological Heritage Protection and Research, No. 208 Hydrogeological and Engineering Geological Team, Chongqing Bureau of Geology and Minerals Exploration, Chongqing, 401121, China
| | - Xing Xu
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044, China.
- Centre for Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, China.
- Paleontological Museum of Liaoning, Shenyang Normal University, Liaoning Province, 253 North Huanghe Street, Shenyang, 110034, China.
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11
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Brusatte SL. Sexual selection and the evolution of dinosaur flight. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2320846121. [PMID: 38190533 PMCID: PMC10801913 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320846121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Stephen L. Brusatte
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, EdinburghEH9 3FE, United Kingdom
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12
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Ng D, Pawling J, Dennis JW. Gene purging and the evolution of Neoave metabolism and longevity. J Biol Chem 2023; 299:105409. [PMID: 37918802 PMCID: PMC10722388 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 10/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Maintenance of the proteasome requires oxidative phosphorylation (ATP) and mitigation of oxidative damage, in an increasingly dysfunctional relationship with aging. SLC3A2 plays a role on both sides of this dichotomy as an adaptor to SLC7A5, a transporter of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA: Leu, Ile, Val), and to SLC7A11, a cystine importer supplying cysteine to the synthesis of the antioxidant glutathione. Endurance in mammalian muscle depends in part on oxidation of BCAA; however, elevated serum levels are associated with insulin resistance and shortened lifespans. Intriguingly, the evolution of modern birds (Neoaves) has entailed the purging of genes including SLC3A2, SLC7A5, -7, -8, -10, and SLC1A4, -5, largely removing BCAA exchangers and their interacting Na+/Gln symporters in pursuit of improved energetics. Additional gene purging included mitochondrial BCAA aminotransferase (BCAT2), pointing to reduced oxidation of BCAA and increased hepatic conversion to triglycerides and glucose. Fat deposits are anhydrous and highly reduced, maximizing the fuel/weight ratio for prolonged flight, but fat accumulation in muscle cells of aging humans contributes to inflammation and senescence. Duplications of the bidirectional α-ketoacid transporters SLC16A3, SLC16A7, the cystine transporters SLC7A9, SLC7A11, and N-glycan branching enzymes MGAT4B, MGAT4C in Neoaves suggests a shift to the transport of deaminated essential amino acid, and stronger mitigation of oxidative stress supported by the galectin lattice. We suggest that Alfred Lotka's theory of natural selection as a maximum power organizer (PNAS 8:151,1922) made an unusually large contribution to Neoave evolution. Further molecular analysis of Neoaves may reveal novel rewiring with applications for human health and longevity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deanna Ng
- Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Judy Pawling
- Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - James W Dennis
- Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto Ontario, Canada.
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13
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Padilla S, Prado R, Anitua E. An evolutionary history of F12 gene: Emergence, loss, and vulnerability with the environment as a driver. Bioessays 2023; 45:e2300077. [PMID: 37750435 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202300077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2023] [Revised: 09/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
In the context of macroevolutionary transitions, environmental changes prompted vertebrates already bearing genetic variations to undergo gradual adaptations resulting in profound anatomical, physiological, and behavioral adaptations. The emergence of new genes led to the genetic variation essential in metazoan evolution, just as was gene loss, both sources of genetic variation resulting in adaptive phenotypic diversity. In this context, F12-coding protein with defense and hemostatic roles emerged some 425 Mya, and it might have contributed in aquatic vertebrates to the transition from water-to-land. Conversely, the F12 loss in marine, air-breathing mammals like cetaceans has been associated with phenotypic adaptations in some terrestrial mammals in their transition to aquatic lifestyle. More recently, the advent of technological innovations in western lifestyle with blood-contacting devices and harmful environmental nanoparticles, has unfolded new roles of FXII. Environment operates as either a positive or a relaxed selective pressure on genes, and consequently genes are selected or lost. FXII, an old dog facing environmental novelties can learn new tricks and teach us new therapeutic avenues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabino Padilla
- BTI-Biotechnology Institute ImasD, Vitoria, Spain
- Eduardo Anitua Foundation for Biomedical Research, Vitoria, Spain
- University Institute for Regenerative Medicine & Oral Implantology - UIRMI (UPV/EHU-Fundación Eduardo Anitua), Vitoria, Spain
| | - Roberto Prado
- BTI-Biotechnology Institute ImasD, Vitoria, Spain
- Eduardo Anitua Foundation for Biomedical Research, Vitoria, Spain
- University Institute for Regenerative Medicine & Oral Implantology - UIRMI (UPV/EHU-Fundación Eduardo Anitua), Vitoria, Spain
| | - Eduardo Anitua
- BTI-Biotechnology Institute ImasD, Vitoria, Spain
- Eduardo Anitua Foundation for Biomedical Research, Vitoria, Spain
- University Institute for Regenerative Medicine & Oral Implantology - UIRMI (UPV/EHU-Fundación Eduardo Anitua), Vitoria, Spain
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14
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Abrahams M, Bordy EM. The oldest fossil bird-like footprints from the upper Triassic of southern Africa. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0293021. [PMID: 38019739 PMCID: PMC10686444 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Footprint morphology reflects the anatomy of the trackmaker's foot and is direct evidence for the animal's behaviour. Consequently, fossil tracks can be used to infer ancient diversity, ethology, and evolutionary trends. This is particularly useful for deep-time intervals during which the early history of an animal group is reliant upon limited fossil skeletal material. Fossil tracks of early birds and theropods, the co-existing dinosaurian ancestors of birds, co-occur in the rock record since the Early Cretaceous. However, the evolutionary transition from dinosaur to bird and the timing of the birds' origin are still contested. Skeletal remains of the basal-most birds Aurornis, Anchiornis, Archaeopteryx and Xiaotingia are Middle to Late Jurassic, while tracks with tentative bird affinities, attributed to dinosaurs, are known from as early as the Late Triassic. Here, we present numerous, well-provenanced, Late Triassic and Early Jurassic tridactyl tracks from southern Africa, with demonstrable bird-like affinities, predating basal bird body fossils by c. 60 million years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miengah Abrahams
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Emese M. Bordy
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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15
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Guo X, Retallack GJ, Liu J. Paleoenvironments of Late Devonian tetrapods in China. Sci Rep 2023; 13:20378. [PMID: 37990036 PMCID: PMC10663569 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47728-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/17/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The major evolutionary transition from fish to amphibian included Late Devonian tetrapods that were neither fish nor amphibian. They had thick necks and small limbs with many digits on elongate flexuous bodies more suitable for water than land. Habitats of Devonian tetrapods are of interest in assessing selective pressures on their later evolution for land within three proposed habitats: 1, tidal flats, 2, desert ponds, and 3, woodland streams. Here we assess paleoenvironments of the Late Devonian tetrapod Sinostega from paleosols in Shixiagou Canyon near Zhongning, Ningxia, China. Fossil tetrapods, fish, molluscs, and plants of the Zhongning Formation are associated with different kinds of paleosols, representing early successional vegetation, seasonal wetlands, desert shrublands, and riparian woodlands, and paleoclimates ranging from semiarid moderately seasonal to monsoonal subhumid. The tetrapod Sinostega was found in a paleochannel of a meandering stream below a deep-calcic paleosol supporting well drained progymnosperm woodland in a monsoonal subhumid paleoclimate. This habitat is similar to that of the tetrapods Densignathus, Hynerpeton, and an indeterminate watcheeriid from Pennsylvania, USA. Chinese and Pennsylvanian Late Devonian tetrapods lived in productive woodland streams, choked with woody debris as a refuge from large predators. Habitats of other Devonian tetrapods have yet to be assessed from studies of associated paleosols as evidence for their ancient climate and vegetation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuelian Guo
- Key Laboratory of Western China's Mineral Resources of Gansu Province, School of Earth Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, People's Republic of China
| | - Gregory J Retallack
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403-1272, USA.
| | - Jinhao Liu
- Key Laboratory of Western China's Mineral Resources of Gansu Province, School of Earth Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, People's Republic of China
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16
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Turcu MC, Paștiu AI, Bel LV, Pusta DL. Minimally Invasive Sampling Methods for Molecular Sexing of Wild and Companion Birds. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:3417. [PMID: 37958172 PMCID: PMC10648277 DOI: 10.3390/ani13213417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Birds are highly social and must be paired in order to increase their welfare. Most bird species are monomorphic; therefore, molecular sexing helps provide appropriate welfare for birds. Moreover, early sex determination can be of great value for bird owners. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that sex identification in birds achieved using molecular methods and samples collected via minimally invasive methods is fast, efficient, and accurate. A total of 100 samples (29 paired samples of feathers and oral swabs and 14 tripled samples of feathers, oral swabs, and blood) from 43 birds were included in this study, as follows: wild birds (Falconiformes, Accipitriformes, landfowl-Galliformes, waterfowl-Anseriformes) and companion birds (Passeriformes, Psittaciformes-large-, medium-, and small-sized parrots). Amplification of CHD1-Z and CHD1-W genes was performed via conventional PCR. The results obtained from feathers were compared to those obtained from oral swabs and to those obtained from blood samples, where applicable. The obtained results show that all types of samples can be used for molecular sexing of all studied bird species. To the best of our knowledge, the present study reports, for the first time, molecular sex identification in Red Siskin (Carduelis cucullata) and Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis major). For higher accuracy, our recommendation is to use minimally invasive samples (oral swabs and feathers) and to test both types of samples for each bird instead of blood samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria-Carmen Turcu
- Department of Genetics and Hereditary Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (M.-C.T.); (D.L.P.)
- New Companion Animals Veterinary Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
| | - Anamaria Ioana Paștiu
- Department of Genetics and Hereditary Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (M.-C.T.); (D.L.P.)
| | - Lucia-Victoria Bel
- New Companion Animals Veterinary Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
| | - Dana Liana Pusta
- Department of Genetics and Hereditary Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; (M.-C.T.); (D.L.P.)
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17
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Marek RD, Felice RN. The neck as a keystone structure in avian macroevolution and mosaicism. BMC Biol 2023; 21:216. [PMID: 37833771 PMCID: PMC10576348 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-023-01715-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/15/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The origin of birds from non-avian theropod dinosaur ancestors required a comprehensive restructuring of the body plan to enable the evolution of powered flight. One of the proposed key mechanisms that allowed birds to acquire flight and modify the associated anatomical structures into diverse forms is mosaic evolution, which describes the parcelization of phenotypic traits into separate modules that evolve with heterogeneous tempo and mode. Avian mosaicism has been investigated with a focus on the cranial and appendicular skeleton, and as such, we do not understand the role of the axial column in avian macroevolution. The long, flexible neck of extant birds lies between the cranial and pectoral modules and represents an opportunity to study the contribution of the axial skeleton to avian mosaicism. RESULTS Here, we use 3D geometric morphometrics in tandem with phylogenetic comparative methods to provide, to our knowledge, the first integrative analysis of avian neck evolution in context with the head and wing and to interrogate how the interactions between these anatomical systems have influenced macroevolutionary trends across a broad sample of extant birds. We find that the neck is integrated with both the head and the forelimb. These patterns of integration are variable across clades, and only specific ecological groups exhibit either head-neck or neck-forelimb integration. Finally, we find that ecological groups that display head-neck and neck-forelimb integration tend to display significant shifts in the rate of neck morphological evolution. CONCLUSIONS Combined, these results suggest that the interaction between trophic ecology and head-neck-forelimb mosaicism influences the evolutionary variance of the avian neck. By linking together the biomechanical functions of these distinct anatomical systems, the cervical vertebral column serves as a keystone structure in avian mosaicism and macroevolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan D Marek
- Centre for Integrative Anatomy, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Ryan N Felice
- Centre for Integrative Anatomy, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, UK
- Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment, University College London, London, UK
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18
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Karki S, Saadaoui M, Dunsing V, Kerridge S, Da Silva E, Philippe JM, Maurange C, Lecuit T. Serotonin signaling regulates actomyosin contractility during morphogenesis in evolutionarily divergent lineages. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5547. [PMID: 37684231 PMCID: PMC10491668 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41178-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that signals through 5-HT receptors to control key functions in the nervous system. Serotonin receptors are also ubiquitously expressed in various organs and have been detected in embryos of different organisms. Potential morphogenetic functions of serotonin signaling have been proposed based on pharmacological studies but a mechanistic understanding is still lacking. Here, we uncover a role of serotonin signaling in axis extension of Drosophila embryos by regulating Myosin II (MyoII) activation, cell contractility and cell intercalation. We find that serotonin and serotonin receptors 5HT2A and 5HT2B form a signaling module that quantitatively regulates the amplitude of planar polarized MyoII contractility specified by Toll receptors and the GPCR Cirl. Remarkably, serotonin signaling also regulates actomyosin contractility at cell junctions, cellular flows and epiblast morphogenesis during chicken gastrulation. This phylogenetically conserved mechanical function of serotonin signaling in regulating actomyosin contractility and tissue flow reveals an ancestral role in morphogenesis of multicellular organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanjay Karki
- Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS, IBDM-UMR7288 & Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseille, France
| | - Mehdi Saadaoui
- Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS, IBDM-UMR7288 & Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseille, France
| | - Valentin Dunsing
- Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS, IBDM-UMR7288 & Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseille, France
| | - Stephen Kerridge
- Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS, IBDM-UMR7288 & Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseille, France
| | - Elise Da Silva
- Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS, IBDM-UMR7288 & Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseille, France
| | - Jean-Marc Philippe
- Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS, IBDM-UMR7288 & Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseille, France
| | - Cédric Maurange
- Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS, IBDM-UMR7288 & Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseille, France
| | - Thomas Lecuit
- Aix-Marseille Université & CNRS, IBDM-UMR7288 & Turing Centre for Living Systems, Marseille, France.
- Collège de France, Paris, France.
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19
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Xu L, Wang M, Chen R, Dong L, Lin M, Xu X, Tang J, You H, Zhou G, Wang L, He W, Li Y, Zhang C, Zhou Z. A new avialan theropod from an emerging Jurassic terrestrial fauna. Nature 2023; 621:336-343. [PMID: 37674081 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06513-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/02/2023] [Indexed: 09/08/2023]
Abstract
Birds are descended from non-avialan theropod dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period, but the earliest phase of this evolutionary process remains unclear owing to the exceedingly sparse and spatio-temporally restricted fossil record1-5. Information about the early-diverging species along the avialan line is crucial to understand the evolution of the characteristic bird bauplan, and to reconcile phylogenetic controversies over the origin of birds3,4. Here we describe one of the stratigraphically youngest and geographically southernmost Jurassic avialans, Fujianvenator prodigiosus gen. et sp. nov., from the Tithonian age of China. This specimen exhibits an unusual set of morphological features that are shared with other stem avialans, troodontids and dromaeosaurids, showing the effects of evolutionary mosaicism in deep avialan phylogeny. F. prodigiosus is distinct from all other Mesozoic avialan and non-avialan theropods in having a particularly elongated hindlimb, suggestive of a terrestrial or wading lifestyle-in contrast with other early avialans, which exhibit morphological adaptations to arboreal or aerial environments. During our fieldwork in Zhenghe where F. prodigiosus was found, we discovered a diverse assemblage of vertebrates dominated by aquatic and semi-aquatic species, including teleosts, testudines and choristoderes. Using in situ radioisotopic dating and stratigraphic surveys, we were able to date the fossil-containing horizons in this locality-which we name the Zhenghe Fauna-to 148-150 million years ago. The diversity of the Zhenghe Fauna and its precise chronological framework will provide key insights into terrestrial ecosystems of the Late Jurassic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liming Xu
- Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, Fuzhou, China
| | - Min Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Runsheng Chen
- Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, Fuzhou, China
| | - Liping Dong
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Min Lin
- Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, Fuzhou, China
| | - Xing Xu
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Centre for Vertebrate Evolutionary Biology, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
- Paleontological Museum of Liaoning, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, China
| | - Jianrong Tang
- Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, Fuzhou, China
| | - Hailu You
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Guowu Zhou
- Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, Fuzhou, China
| | - Linchang Wang
- Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, Fuzhou, China
| | - Wenxing He
- Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, Fuzhou, China
| | - Yujuan Li
- Fujian Institute of Geological Survey, Fuzhou, China
| | - Chi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zhonghe Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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20
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Mainwaring MC, Medina I, Tobalske BW, Hartley IR, Varricchio DJ, Hauber ME. The evolution of nest site use and nest architecture in modern birds and their ancestors. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220143. [PMID: 37427466 PMCID: PMC10331912 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 05/19/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The evolution of nest site use and nest architecture in the non-avian ancestors of birds remains poorly understood because nest structures do not preserve well as fossils. Nevertheless, the evidence suggests that the earliest dinosaurs probably buried eggs below ground and covered them with soil so that heat from the substrate fuelled embryo development, while some later dinosaurs laid partially exposed clutches where adults incubated them and protected them from predators and parasites. The nests of euornithine birds-the precursors to modern birds-were probably partially open and the neornithine birds-or modern birds-were probably the first to build fully exposed nests. The shift towards smaller, open cup nests has been accompanied by shifts in reproductive traits, with female birds having one functioning ovary in contrast to the two ovaries of crocodilians and many non-avian dinosaurs. The evolutionary trend among extant birds and their ancestors has been toward the evolution of greater cognitive abilities to construct in a wider diversity of sites and providing more care for significantly fewer, increasingly altricial, offspring. The highly derived passerines reflect this pattern with many species building small, architecturally complex nests in open sites and investing significant care into altricial young. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolutionary ecology of nests: a cross-taxon approach'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Iliana Medina
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Bret W. Tobalske
- Field Research Station at Fort Missoula, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, MT 59802, USA
| | - Ian R. Hartley
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
| | - David J. Varricchio
- Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
| | - Mark E. Hauber
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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21
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Wang M, Zhou Z. Low morphological disparity and decelerated rate of limb size evolution close to the origin of birds. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:1257-1266. [PMID: 37277496 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02091-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
The origin of birds from theropod dinosaurs involves many changes in musculoskeletal anatomy and epidermal structures, including multiple instances of convergence and homology-related traits that contribute to the refinement of flight capability. Changes in limb sizes and proportions are important for locomotion (for example, the forelimb for bird flight); thus, understanding these patterns is central to investigating the transition from terrestrial to volant theropods. Here we analyse the patterns of morphological disparity and the evolutionary rate of appendicular limbs along avialan stem lineages using phylogenetic comparative approaches. Contrary to the traditional wisdom that an evolutionary innovation like flight would promote and accelerate evolvability, our results show a shift to low disparity and decelerated rate near the origin of avialans that is largely ascribed to the evolutionarily constrained forelimb. These results suggest that natural selection shaped patterns of limb evolution close to the origin of avialans in a way that may reflect the winged forelimb 'blueprint' associated with powered flight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Zhonghe Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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22
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Pierzchała-Koziec K, Scanes CG. Avian opioid peptides: evolutionary considerations, functional roles and a challenge to address critical questions. Front Physiol 2023; 14:1164031. [PMID: 37346481 PMCID: PMC10280075 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1164031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/26/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The present review considers the putative hormonal opioid peptides in birds. In birds and all other vertebrates, there are four opioid related genes encoding a series of peptides. These genes are, respectively, proenkephalin (PENK), prodynorphin (PDYN), pronociceptin (PNOC) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC). Proenkephalin (PENK) encodes Met- and Leu-enkephalin together with peptides containing met enkephalin motifs in birds, mammals and reptiles. Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) encodes β endorphin together with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH). Prodynorphin (PDYN) encoding dynorphins A and B with α- and β-neoendorphins together intermediate polypeptides across the vertebrates. Pronociceptin (PNOC) encodes nociceptin together with possibly putative avian nocistatin and a non-opioid peptide derived from the C terminal of pronociceptin. There is a high degree of identity in the sequences of enkephalin peptides, dynorphin-A and B and nociceptin in birds and, to a less extent, across vertebrates. The opioid peptides exert effects related to pain together with other biological actions such as growth/development acting via a series of opioid receptors. What is unclear, particularly in birds, is the biological roles and interactions (additivity, antagonistic and synergistic) for the individual opioid peptides, the processing of the prohormones in different tissues and the physiological relevance of the different peptides and, particularly, of the circulating forms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Colin G. Scanes
- Colin G. Scanes, Department of Biological Science, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, United States
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23
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Brusatte SL. Paleontology: All dinosaurs big and small. Curr Biol 2023; 33:R402-R405. [PMID: 37220731 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.03.080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Two new studies illuminate how some dinosaurs were able to grow to enormous sizes, while others shrank to become today's birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen L Brusatte
- School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FE, Scotland, UK.
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24
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Zuccolo A, Mfarrej S, Celii M, Mussurova S, Rivera LF, Llaca V, Mohammed N, Pain A, Alrefaei AF, Alrefaei AF, Wing RA. The gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) genome. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2023; 13:6972330. [PMID: 36611193 PMCID: PMC9997569 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkad001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2022] [Revised: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
High-quality genome assemblies are characterized by high-sequence contiguity, completeness, and a low error rate, thus providing the basis for a wide array of studies focusing on natural species ecology, conservation, evolution, and population genomics. To provide this valuable resource for conservation projects and comparative genomics studies on gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus), we sequenced and assembled the genome of this species using third-generation sequencing strategies and optical maps. Here, we describe a highly contiguous and complete genome assembly comprising 20 scaffolds and 13 contigs with a total size of 1.193 Gbp, including 8,064 complete Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCOs) of the total 8,338 BUSCO groups present in the library aves_odb10. Of these BUSCO genes, 96.7% were complete, 96.1% were present as a single copy, and 0.6% were duplicated. Furthermore, 0.8% of BUSCO genes were fragmented and 2.5% (210) were missing. A de novo search for transposable elements (TEs) identified 5,716 TEs that masked 7.61% of the F. rusticolus genome assembly when combined with publicly available TE collections. Long interspersed nuclear elements, in particular, the element Chicken-repeat 1 (CR1), were the most abundant TEs in the F. rusticolus genome. A de novo first-pass gene annotation was performed using 293,349 PacBio Iso-Seq transcripts and 496,195 transcripts derived from the assembly of 42,429,525 Illumina PE RNA-seq reads. In all, 19,602 putative genes, of which 59.31% were functionally characterized and associated with Gene Ontology terms, were annotated. A comparison of the gyrfalcon genome assembly with the publicly available assemblies of the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus), zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), and hummingbird (Calypte anna) revealed several genome rearrangements. In particular, nine putative chromosome fusions were identified in the gyrfalcon genome assembly compared with those in the G. gallus genome assembly. This genome assembly, its annotation for TEs and genes, and the comparative analyses presented, complement and strength the base of high-quality genome assemblies and associated resources available for comparative studies focusing on the evolution, ecology, and conservation of Aves.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Zuccolo
- Center for Desert Agriculture (CDA), Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering Division (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.,Crop Science Research Center, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127 Pisa, Italy
| | - Sara Mfarrej
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Thuwal-Jeddah 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mirko Celii
- Center for Desert Agriculture (CDA), Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering Division (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Saule Mussurova
- Center for Desert Agriculture (CDA), Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering Division (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Luis F Rivera
- Center for Desert Agriculture (CDA), Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering Division (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Victor Llaca
- Research and Development, Corteva Agriscience, Johnston, IA 50131, USA
| | - Nahed Mohammed
- Center for Desert Agriculture (CDA), Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering Division (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Arnab Pain
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Thuwal-Jeddah 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | | | - Abdulwahed Fahad Alrefaei
- Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
| | - Rod A Wing
- Center for Desert Agriculture (CDA), Biological and Environmental Sciences & Engineering Division (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.,School of Plant Sciences, Arizona Genomics Institute, University of Arizona, 24 Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
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25
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Akeda T, Fujiwara SI. Coracoid strength as an indicator of wing-beat propulsion in birds. J Anat 2023; 242:436-446. [PMID: 36380603 PMCID: PMC9919476 DOI: 10.1111/joa.13788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2021] [Revised: 10/15/2022] [Accepted: 10/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Birds generate a propulsive force by flapping their wings. They use this propulsive force for various locomotion styles, such as aerodynamic flight, wing-paddle swimming and wing-assisted incline running. It is therefore important to reveal the origin of flapping ability in the evolution from theropod dinosaurs to birds. However, there are no quantitative indices to reconstruct the flapping abilities of extinct forms based on their skeletal morphology. This study compares the section modulus of the coracoid relative to body mass among various extant birds to test whether the index is correlated with flapping ability. According to a survey of 220 historical bird specimens representing 209 species, 180 genera, 83 families and 30 orders, the section modulus of the coracoid relative to body mass in non-flapping birds was significantly smaller than that of flapping birds. This indicates that coracoid strength in non-flapping birds is deemphasised, whereas in flapping birds the strength is emphasised to withstand the contractile force produced by powerful flapping muscles, such as the m. pectoralis and m. supracoracoideus. Therefore, the section modulus of the coracoid is expected to be a powerful tool to reveal the origin of powered flight in birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takumi Akeda
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
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26
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Gündemir MG, Szara T, Spataru C, Demircioglu I, Turek B, Petrovas G, Spataru MC. Shape differences of the Carina sterni in birds of various locomotion types. Anat Histol Embryol 2023; 52:190-196. [PMID: 36181376 DOI: 10.1111/ahe.12870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 09/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The anatomy of the sternum in birds varies according to their habitats and type of locomotion. In particular, the carina sterni manifest different shape variations. In this study, the shape of the carina sterni was investigated by means of geometric morphometrics. Birds of different types of locomotion were used in the study: flying, swimming, and terrestrial. Ducks and chickens show a wider variety of shapes. Pigeons are the species with the least differences. The margo cranialis carinae in a turkey is the flattest compared to other species. In chickens, the apex carinae is more caudally than the base of the carina sterni. The margo cranialis of the carina sterni in ducks is concave. The differences in centroid size and shape differences between species collectively are statistically significant (p < 0.0001). The most distinct shape contrast is between the duck and turkey (p: 0.0003). Form differences between the ducks and geese as well as between the chicken and turkey are statistically insignificant. There is less variation in the shape of the carina sterni among avian species representing the same type of locomotion. Although there are many comparative morphological and morphometric studies of birds, shape analysis studies revealing the interspecific differences and similarities of the sternum are very limited. Morphology of the carina sterni can be useful in taxonomic investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tomasz Szara
- Department of Morphological Sciences, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Scienc-es-SGGW, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Constantin Spataru
- Department of Preclinics, "Ion Ionescu de la Brad", University of Life Sciences, Iasi, Romania
| | - Ismail Demircioglu
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Harran University, Sanliurfa, Turkey
| | - Bernard Turek
- Department of Large Animal Diseases and Clinic, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Georgios Petrovas
- Veterinary Faculty, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Mihaela Claudia Spataru
- Department of Public Health, "Ion Ionescu de la Brad", University of Life Sciences, Iasi, Romania
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27
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Qin Z, Liao CC, Benton MJ, Rayfield EJ. Functional space analyses reveal the function and evolution of the most bizarre theropod manual unguals. Commun Biol 2023; 6:181. [PMID: 36797463 PMCID: PMC9935540 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04552-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Maniraptoran dinosaurs include the ancestors of birds, and most used their hands for grasping and in flight, but early-branching maniraptorans had extraordinary claws of mysterious function. Alvarezsauroids had short, strong arms and hands with a stout, rock-pick-like, single functional finger. Therizinosaurians had elongate fingers with slender and sickle-like unguals, sometimes over one metre long. Here we develop a comprehensive methodological framework to investigate what the functions of these most bizarre bony claws are and how they formed. Our analysis includes finite element analysis and a newly established functional-space analysis and also involves shape and size effects in an assessment of function and evolution. We find a distinct functional divergence among manual unguals of early-branching maniraptorans, and we identify a complex relationship between their structural strength, morphological specialisations, and size changes. Our analysis reveals that efficient digging capabilities only emerged in late-branching alvarezsauroid forelimbs, rejecting the hypothesis of functional vestigial structures like T. rex. Our results also support the statement that most therizinosaurians were herbivores. However, the bizarre, huge Therizinosaurus had sickle-like unguals of such length that no mechanical function has been identified; we suggest they were decorative and lengthened by peramorphic growth linked to increased body size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zichuan Qin
- School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK.
| | - Chun-Chi Liao
- grid.9227.e0000000119573309Key Laboratory for the Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044 China
| | - Michael J. Benton
- grid.5337.20000 0004 1936 7603School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ UK
| | - Emily J. Rayfield
- grid.5337.20000 0004 1936 7603School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ UK
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28
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Gavrilov VM, Golubeva TB, Bushuev AV. Metabolic rate, sleep duration, and body temperature in evolution of mammals and birds: the influence of geological time of principal groups divergence. Zookeys 2023; 1148:1-27. [DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1148.93458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023] Open
Abstract
This study contains an analysis of basal metabolic rate (BMR) in 1817 endothermic species. The aim was to establish how metabolic scaling varies between the main groups of endotherms during evolution. The data for all the considered groups were combined and the common exponent in the allometric relationship between the BMR and body weight was established as b = 0.7248. Reduced to the common slope, the relative metabolic rate forms the following series: Neognathae – Passeriformes – 1.00, Neognathae – Non-Passeriformes – 0.75, Palaeognathae – 0.53, Eutheria – 0.57, Marsupialia – 0.44, and Monotremata – 0.26. The main finding is that the metabolic rate in the six main groups of mammals and birds consistently increases as the geological time of the group’s divergence approaches the present. In parallel, the average body temperature in the group rises, the duration of sleep decreases and the duration of activity increases. BMR in a taxon correlates with its evolutionary age: the later a clade diverged, the higher is its metabolic rate and the longer is its activity period; group exponents decrease as group divergence nears present times while with increase metabolic rate during activity, they not only do not decrease but can increase. Sleep duration in mammals was on average 40% longer than in birds while BMR, in contrast, was 40% higher in birds. The evolution of metabolic scaling, body temperature, sleep duration, and activity during the development of endothermic life forms is demonstrated, allowing for a better understanding of the underlying principles of endothermy formation.
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29
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Choi S, Hauber ME, Legendre LJ, Kim NH, Lee YN, Varricchio DJ. Microstructural and crystallographic evolution of palaeognath (Aves) eggshells. eLife 2023; 12:e81092. [PMID: 36719067 PMCID: PMC9889092 DOI: 10.7554/elife.81092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/11/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The avian palaeognath phylogeny has been recently revised significantly due to the advancement of genome-wide comparative analyses and provides the opportunity to trace the evolution of the microstructure and crystallography of modern dinosaur eggshells. Here, eggshells of all major clades of Palaeognathae (including extinct taxa) and selected eggshells of Neognathae and non-avian dinosaurs are analysed with electron backscatter diffraction. Our results show the detailed microstructures and crystallographies of (previously) loosely categorized ostrich-, rhea-, and tinamou-style morphotypes of palaeognath eggshells. All rhea-style eggshell appears homologous, while respective ostrich-style and tinamou-style morphotypes are best interpreted as homoplastic morphologies (independently acquired). Ancestral state reconstruction and parsimony analysis additionally show that rhea-style eggshell represents the ancestral state of palaeognath eggshells both in microstructure and crystallography. The ornithological and palaeontological implications of the current study are not only helpful for the understanding of evolution of modern and extinct dinosaur eggshells, but also aid other disciplines where palaeognath eggshells provide useful archive for comparative contrasts (e.g. palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, geochronology, and zooarchaeology).
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Affiliation(s)
- Seung Choi
- Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State UniversityBozemanUnited States
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Mark E Hauber
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUrbanaUnited States
| | - Lucas J Legendre
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at AustinAustinUnited States
| | - Noe-Heon Kim
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National UniversitySeoulRepublic of Korea
- Department of Geosciences, Princeton UniversityPrincetonUnited States
| | - Yuong-Nam Lee
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National UniversitySeoulRepublic of Korea
| | - David J Varricchio
- Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State UniversityBozemanUnited States
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30
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Herculano-Houzel S. Theropod dinosaurs had primate-like numbers of telencephalic neurons. J Comp Neurol 2023; 531:962-974. [PMID: 36603059 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the neuronal composition of the brains of dinosaurs and other fossil amniotes would offer fundamental insight into their behavioral and cognitive capabilities, but brain tissue is only rarely fossilized. However, when the bony brain case is preserved, the volume and therefore mass of the brain can be estimated with computer tomography; and if the scaling relationship between brain mass and numbers of neurons for the clade is known, that relationship can be applied to estimate the neuronal composition of the brain. Using a recently published database of numbers of neurons in the telencephalon of extant sauropsids (birds, squamates, and testudines), here I show that the neuronal scaling rules that apply to these animals can be used to infer the numbers of neurons that composed the telencephalon of dinosaur, pterosaur, and other fossil sauropsid species. The key to inferring numbers of telencephalic neurons in these species is first using the relationship between their estimated brain and body mass to determine whether bird-like (endothermic) or squamate-like (ectothermic) rules apply to each fossil sauropsid species. This procedure shows that the notion of "mesothermy" in dinosaurs is an artifact due to the mixing of animals with bird-like and squamate-like scaling, and indicates that theropods such as Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus were endotherms with baboon- and monkey-like numbers of telencephalic neurons, respectively, which would make these animals not only giant but also long-lived and endowed with flexible cognition, and thus even more magnificent predators than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suzana Herculano-Houzel
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.,Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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31
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Alaei Kakhki N, Schweizer M, Lutgen D, Bowie RCK, Shirihai H, Suh A, Schielzeth H, Burri R. A Phylogenomic Assessment of Processes Underpinning Convergent Evolution in Open-Habitat Chats. Mol Biol Evol 2023; 40:6964684. [PMID: 36578177 PMCID: PMC10161543 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msac278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Insights into the processes underpinning convergent evolution advance our understanding of the contributions of ancestral, introgressed, and novel genetic variation to phenotypic evolution. Phylogenomic analyses characterizing genome-wide gene tree heterogeneity can provide first clues about the extent of ILS and of introgression and thereby into the potential of these processes or (in their absence) the need to invoke novel mutations to underpin convergent evolution. Here, we were interested in understanding the processes involved in convergent evolution in open-habitat chats (wheatears of the genus Oenanthe and their relatives). To this end, based on whole-genome resequencing data from 50 taxa of 44 species, we established the species tree, characterized gene tree heterogeneity, and investigated the footprints of ILS and introgression within the latter. The species tree corroborates the pattern of abundant convergent evolution, especially in wheatears. The high levels of gene tree heterogeneity in wheatears are explained by ILS alone only for 30% of internal branches. For multiple branches with high gene tree heterogeneity, D-statistics and phylogenetic networks identified footprints of introgression. Finally, long branches without extensive ILS between clades sporting similar phenotypes provide suggestive evidence for the role of novel mutations in the evolution of these phenotypes. Together, our results suggest that convergent evolution in open-habitat chats involved diverse processes and highlight that phenotypic diversification is often complex and best depicted as a network of interacting lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niloofar Alaei Kakhki
- Department of Population Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Manuel Schweizer
- Natural History Museum Bern, Bern, Switzerland.,Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Dave Lutgen
- Department of Population Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany.,Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.,Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland
| | - Rauri C K Bowie
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.,Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | | | - Alexander Suh
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom.,Department of Organismal Biology - Systematic Biology (EBC), Science for Life Laboratory, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Holger Schielzeth
- Department of Population Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany.,German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Reto Burri
- Department of Population Ecology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany.,Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.,Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland
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32
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Li Z, Wang M, Stidham TA, Zhou Z. Decoupling the skull and skeleton in a Cretaceous bird with unique appendicular morphologies. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:20-31. [PMID: 36593291 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01921-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 10/03/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
The Cretaceous is a critical time interval that encompasses explosive diversifications of terrestrial vertebrates, particularly the period when the earliest-branching birds, after divergence from their theropod ancestors, evolved the characteristic avian Bauplan that led eventually to their global radiation. This early phylogenetic diversity is overwhelmed by the Ornithothoraces, consisting of the Enantiornithes and Ornithuromorpha, whose members evolved key derived features of crown birds. This disparity consequently circumscribes a large morphological gap between these derived clades and the oldest bird Archaeopteryx. The non-ornithothoracine pygostylians, with an intermediate phylogenetic position, are key to deciphering those evolutionary transformations, but progress in their study has been hampered by the limited diversity of known fossils. Here we report an Early Cetaceous non-ornithothoracine pygostylian, Cratonavis zhui gen. et sp. nov., that exhibits a unique combination of a non-avialan dinosaurian akinetic skull with an avialan post-cranial skeleton, revealing the key role of evolutionary mosaicism in early bird diversification. The unusually elongated scapular and metatarsal one preserved in Cratonavis highlights a breadth of skeletal plasticity, stemming from their distinct developmental modules and selection for possibly raptorial behaviour. Mapped changes in these two elements across theropod phylogeny demonstrate clade-specific evolutionary lability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiheng Li
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Min Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. .,Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Thomas A Stidham
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zhonghe Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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33
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Li H, Staxäng K, Hodik M, Melkersson KG, Rask-Andersen H. The ultrastructure of a stria vascularis in the auditory organ of the cuban crocodile ( Crocodylus rhombifer). Front Cell Dev Biol 2023; 11:1129074. [PMID: 36891513 PMCID: PMC9986273 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1129074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: An endocochlear potential (EP) exists in the mammalian cochlea generated by the stria vascularis and an associated fibrocyte network. It plays an essential role for sensory cell function and hearing sensitivity. In non-mammalian ectothermic animals the endocochlear potential is low and its origin somewhat unclear. In this study, we explored the crocodilian auditory organ and describe the fine structure of a stria vascularis epithelium that has not been verified in birds. Material and Methods: Three Cuban crocodiles (Crocodylus rhombifer) were analyzed with light and transmission electron microscopy. The ears were fixed in glutaraldehyde The temporal bones were drilled out and decalcified. The ears were dehydrated, and embedded and was followed by semi-thin and thin sectioning. Results: The fine structure of the crocodile auditory organ including the papilla basilaris and endolymph system was outlined. The upper roof of the endolymph compartment was specialized into a Reissner membrane and tegmentum vasculosum. At the lateral limbus an organized, multilayered, vascularized epithelium or stria vascularis was identified. Discussion: Electron microscopy demonstrates that the auditory organ in Crocodylus rhombifer, unlike in birds, contains a stria vascularis epithelium separate from the tegmentum vasculosum. It is believed to secrete endolymph and to generate a low grade endocochlear potential. It may regulate endolymph composition and optimize hearing sensitivity alongside the tegmentum vasculosum. It could represent a parallel evolution essential for the adaptation of crocodiles to their diverse habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Li
- Department of Surgical Sciences, Head and Neck Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Karin Staxäng
- The Rudbeck TEM laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Monika Hodik
- The Rudbeck TEM laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Helge Rask-Andersen
- Department of Surgical Sciences, Head and Neck Surgery, Section of Otolaryngology, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
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34
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The quest for a generic bird target to detect the presence of bird in food products and considerations for paleoprotein analysis. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0279369. [PMID: 36538508 PMCID: PMC9767367 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
It can be important for consumers to know whether food products contain animal material and, if so, of which species. Food products with animal material as an ingredient often contain collagen type 1. LC-MS/MS (Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry) was applied as technique to generically detect bird. Unlike for example fish, that have experienced longer divergence times, it is still possible to find generic LC-MS targets for avian type 1 collagen. After theoretical target selection using 83 collagen 1α2 bird sequences of 33 orders and construction of a common ancestor sequence of birds, experimental evidence was provided by analyzing extracts from 10 extant bird species. Two suitable options have been identified. The combination of VGPIGPAGNR and VGPIGAAGNR (pheasant only) covers all investigated birds and was not found in other species. The peptide EGPVGFpGADGR covers all investigated birds, but also occurs in several species of crocodiles and turtles. The presence of the generic peptide (combination) was confirmed in food products, proving the principle, and can therefore be used to detect the presence of bird. Furthermore, it is shown how the use of constructed ancestor sequences could benefit the field of paleoproteomics, in the interpretation of collagen MS/MS spectra of ancient species. Our theoretical analysis and assessment of reported Brachylophosaurus canadensis collagen 1α2 MS/MS data provided support for several previous peptide sequence assignments, but we also propose that our constructed ancestral bird sequence GPpGESGAVGPAGPIGSR may fit the MS/MS data better than the original assignment GLPGESGAVGPAGPpGSR.
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35
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Wang M, Stidham TA, O'Connor JK, Zhou Z. Insight into the evolutionary assemblage of cranial kinesis from a Cretaceous bird. eLife 2022; 11:e81337. [PMID: 36469022 PMCID: PMC9721616 DOI: 10.7554/elife.81337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 11/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/07/2022] Open
Abstract
The independent movements and flexibility of various parts of the skull, called cranial kinesis, are an evolutionary innovation that is found in living vertebrates only in some squamates and crown birds and is considered to be a major factor underpinning much of the enormous phenotypic and ecological diversity of living birds, the most diverse group of extant amniotes. Compared to the postcranium, our understanding of the evolutionary assemblage of the characteristic modern bird skull has been hampered by sparse fossil records of early cranial materials, with competing hypotheses regarding the evolutionary development of cranial kinesis among early members of the avialans. Here, a detailed three-dimensional reconstruction of the skull of the Early Cretaceous enantiornithine Yuanchuavis kompsosoura allows for its in-depth description, including elements that are poorly known among early-diverging avialans but are central to deciphering the mosaic assembly of features required for modern avian cranial kinesis. Our reconstruction of the skull shows evolutionary and functional conservation of the temporal and palatal regions by retaining the ancestral theropod dinosaurian configuration within the skull of this otherwise derived and volant bird. Geometric morphometric analysis of the palatine suggests that loss of the jugal process represents the first step in the structural modifications of this element leading to the kinetic crown bird condition. The mixture of plesiomorphic temporal and palatal structures together with a derived avialan rostrum and postcranial skeleton encapsulated in Yuanchuavis manifests the key role of evolutionary mosaicism and experimentation in early bird diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Wang
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Thomas A Stidham
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | | | - Zhonghe Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
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Mackrill JJ. Evolution of the cardiac dyad. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210329. [PMID: 36189805 PMCID: PMC9527923 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2021] [Accepted: 12/22/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Cardiac dyads are the site of communication between the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and infoldings of the sarcolemma called transverse-tubules (TT). During heart excitation-contraction coupling, Ca2+-influx through L-type Ca2+ channels in the TT is amplified by release of Ca2+-from the SR via type 2 ryanodine receptors, activating the contractile apparatus. Key proteins involved in cardiac dyad function are bridging integrator 1 (BIN1), junctophilin 2 and caveolin 3. The work presented here aims to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the cardiac dyad, by surveying the scientific literature for ultrastructural evidence of these junctions across all animal taxa; phylogenetically reconstructing the evolutionary history of BIN1; and by comparing peptide motifs involved in TT formation by this protein across metazoans. Key findings are that cardiac dyads have been identified in mammals, arthropods and molluscs, but not in other animals. Vertebrate BIN1 does not group with members of this protein family from other taxa, suggesting that invertebrate BINs are paralogues rather orthologues of this gene. Comparisons of BIN1 peptide sequences of mammals with those of other vertebrates reveals novel features that might contribute to TT and dyad formation. The analyses presented here suggest that the cardiac dyad evolved independently several times during metazoan evolution: an unexpected observation given the diversity of heart structure and function between different animal taxa. This article is part of the theme issue 'The cardiomyocyte: new revelations on the interplay between architecture and function in growth, health, and disease'.
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Affiliation(s)
- John James Mackrill
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University College Cork, Western Gateway Building, Western Road, Cork T12 XF62, Republic of Ireland
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37
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Khan R, Hill RS, Dörken VM, Biffin E. Detailed seed cone morpho-anatomy of the Prumnopityoid clade: an insight into the origin and evolution of Podocarpaceae seed cones. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2022; 130:637-655. [PMID: 35906916 PMCID: PMC9670759 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcac097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2022] [Indexed: 05/29/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Seed cone traits are significant for understanding the evolutionary history of conifers. Podocarpaceae has fleshy cones with a distinct morphology compared with other conifers. However, we have a poor understanding of the seed cone morphology of the Prumnopityoid clade and within Podocarpaceae. This study presents detailed seed cone morpho-anatomy and the evolution of fleshy structures traits in the Prumnopityoid clade. METHODS We investigated the detailed seed cone morpho-anatomy of selected species from the nine genera using the histological method. The evolution of morpho-anatomical traits was assessed using ancestral state reconstruction methods. KEY RESULTS The Prumnopityoid clade has evolved fleshy seed cones using different functional structures (e.g. aril, epimatium, bracts or receptaculum) and fleshiness is an ancestral trait in the clade. An epimatium is present in all genera except Phyllocladus, but with different structural morphologies (e.g. a fleshy asymmetrical cup-like epimatium or an epimatium that is fused with the integument, forming a fleshy sarcotesta-like seed coat). In all species with fleshy sarcotesta-like seed coats, the endotesta is hard and woody, forming a sclerotesta-like structure and the epimatium and exotesta are fused, forming a fleshy sarcotesta-like structure. CONCLUSIONS This study highlights that the Prumnopityoid clade has an amazing diversity of structures and complex evolutionary patterns. Fleshiness is an ancestral trait of the clade and has been achieved via diverse evolutionary pathways and structures. This clade has four distinct seed cone types, i.e. drupe-like, receptaculate, arilloid and dacrydioid cones, based on morpho-anatomical structures and traits. The macrofossil record also demonstrates the presence of several structures and traits.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert S Hill
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Veit M Dörken
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Ed Biffin
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, SA, Australia
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38
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Primate–Predator Interactions: Is There a Mismatch Between Laboratory and Ecological Evidence? INT J PRIMATOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00331-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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39
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Incentive disengagement and the adaptive significance of frustrative nonreward. Learn Behav 2022; 50:372-388. [DOI: 10.3758/s13420-022-00519-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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40
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Stoffolano JG. Synanthropic Flies-A Review Including How They Obtain Nutrients, along with Pathogens, Store Them in the Crop and Mechanisms of Transmission. INSECTS 2022; 13:776. [PMID: 36135477 PMCID: PMC9500719 DOI: 10.3390/insects13090776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2022] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
An attempt has been made to provide a broad review of synanthropic flies and, not just a survey of their involvement in human pathogen transmission. It also emphasizes that the crop organ of calliphorids, sarcophagids, and muscids was an evolutionary development and has served and assisted non-blood feeding flies in obtaining food, as well as pathogens, prior to the origin of humans. Insects are believed to be present on earth about 400 million years ago (MYA). Thus, prior to the origin of primates, there was adequate time for these flies to become associated with various animals and to serve as important transmitters of pathogens associated with them prior to the advent of early hominids and modern humans. Through the process of fly crop regurgitation, numerous pathogens are still readily being made available to primates and other animals. Several studies using invertebrate-derived DNA = iDNA meta-techniques have been able to identify, not only the source the fly had fed on, but also if it had fed on their feces or the animal's body fluids. Since these flies are known to feed on both vertebrate fluids (i.e., from wounds, saliva, mucus, or tears), as well as those of other animals, and their feces, identification of the reservoir host, amplification hosts, and associated pathogens is essential in identifying emerging infectious diseases. New molecular tools, along with a focus on the crop, and what is in it, should provide a better understanding and development of whether these flies are involved in emerging infectious diseases. If so, epidemiological models in the future might be better at predicting future epidemics or pandemics.
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Affiliation(s)
- John G Stoffolano
- Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
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41
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Anatomical, Ontogenetic, and Genomic Homologies Guide Reconstructions of the Teeth-to-Baleen Transition in Mysticete Whales. J MAMM EVOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-022-09614-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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42
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Metabolic Scaling in Birds and Mammals: How Taxon Divergence Time, Phylogeny, and Metabolic Rate Affect the Relationship between Scaling Exponents and Intercepts. BIOLOGY 2022; 11:biology11071067. [PMID: 36101445 PMCID: PMC9312277 DOI: 10.3390/biology11071067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Revised: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary This study is based on a large dataset and re-evaluates data on the metabolic rate, providing new insights into the similarities and differences across different groups of birds and mammals. We compared six taxonomic groups of mammals and birds according to their energetic characteristics and the geological time of evolutionary origin. The overall metabolic rate of a taxonomic group increases with the geological time of evolutionary origin. The terrestrial mammals and flightless birds have almost equal metabolic levels. The higher the metabolic rate in a group, the less it increases within increasing body size in this group. Abstract Analysis of metabolic scaling in currently living endothermic animal species allowed us to show how the relationship between body mass and the basal metabolic rate (BMR) has evolved in the history of endothermic vertebrates. We compared six taxonomic groups according to their energetic characteristics and the time of evolutionary divergence. We transformed the slope of the regression lines to the common value and analyzed three criteria for comparing BMR of different taxa regardless of body size. Correlation between average field metabolic rate (FMR) of the group and its average BMR was shown. We evaluated the efficiency of self-maintenance in ordinary life (defined BMR/FMR) in six main groups of endotherms. Our study has shown that metabolic scaling in the main groups of endothermic animals correlates with their evolutionary age: the younger the group, the higher the metabolic rate, but the rate increases more slowly with increasing body weight. We found negative linear relationship for scaling exponents and the allometric coefficient in five groups of endotherms: in units of mL O2/h per g, in relative units of allometric coefficients, and also in level or scaling elevation. Mammals that diverged from the main vertebrate stem earlier have a higher “b” exponent than later divergent birds. A new approach using three criteria for comparing BMR of different taxa regardless of body mass will be useful for many biological size-scaling relationships that follow the power function.
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Stevenson TJ, Liddle TA, Stewart C, Marshall CJ, Majumdar G. Neural programming of seasonal physiology in birds and mammals: A modular perspective. Horm Behav 2022; 142:105153. [PMID: 35325691 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2021] [Revised: 01/30/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Most animals in the temperate zone exhibit robust seasonal rhythms in neuroendocrine, physiological and behavioral processes. The integration of predictive and supplementary environmental cues (e.g., nutrients) involves a series of discrete, and interconnected brain regions that span hypothalamic, thalamic, mesencephalic, and limbic regions. Species-specific adaptive changes in these neuroendocrine structures and cellular plasticity have likely evolved to support seasonal life-history transitions. Despite significant advances in our understanding of ecological responses to predictive and supplementary environmental cues, there remains a paucity of literature on how these diverse cues impact the underlying neural and cellular substrates. To date, most scientific approach has focused on neuroendocrine responses to annual changes in daylength, referred to as photoperiod, due to the robust physiological changes to light manipulations in laboratory settings. In this review, we highlight the relatively few animal models that have been effectively used to investigate how predictive day lengths, and supplementary cues are integrated across hypothalamic nuclei, and discuss key findings of how seasonal rhythms in physiology are governed by adaptive neuroendocrine changes. We discuss how specific brain regions integrate environmental cues to form a complex multiunit or 'modular' system that has evolved to optimize the timing of seasonal physiology. Overall, the review aims to highlight the existence of a modular network of neural regions that independently contribute to timing seasonal physiology. This paper proposes that a multi-modular neuroendocrine system has evolved in which independent neural 'units' operate to support species-specific seasonal rhythms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tyler J Stevenson
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, United Kingdom.
| | - Timothy A Liddle
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, United Kingdom
| | - Calum Stewart
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher J Marshall
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, United Kingdom
| | - Gaurav Majumdar
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, United Kingdom
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In Silico Analysis of Seven PCR Markers Developed from the CHD1, NIPBL and SPIN Genes Followed by Laboratory Testing Shows How to Reliably Determine the Sex of Musophagiformes Species. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13050932. [PMID: 35627317 PMCID: PMC9140868 DOI: 10.3390/genes13050932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Revised: 05/18/2022] [Accepted: 05/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Sex determination in birds, due to the very common lack of sexual dimorphism, is challenging. Therefore, molecular sexing is often the only reliable way to differentiate between the sexes. However, for many bird species, very few genetic markers are available to accurately, quickly, and cost-effectively type sex. Therefore, in our study, using 14 species belonging to the order Musophagiformes, we tested the usefulness of seven PCR markers (three of which have never been used to determine the sex of turacos), developed based on the CHD1, NIPBL, and SPIN genes, to validate existing and develop new strategies/methods of sex determination. After in silico analysis, for which we used the three turaco nuclear genomes available in GenBank, the suitability of the seven selected markers for sexing turacos was tested in the laboratory. It turned out that the best of the markers tested was the 17th intron in the NIPBL gene (not previously tested in turacos), allowing reliable sex determination in 13 of the 14 species tested. For the one species not sexed by this marker, the 9th intron in the CHD1 gene proved to be effective. The remaining markers were of little (4 markers developed based on the CHD1 gene) or no use (marker developed based on the SPIN gene).
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Bolet A, Stubbs TL, Herrera-Flores JA, Benton MJ. The Jurassic rise of squamates as supported by lepidosaur disparity and evolutionary rates. eLife 2022; 11:e66511. [PMID: 35502582 PMCID: PMC9064307 DOI: 10.7554/elife.66511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The squamates (lizards, snakes, and relatives) today comprise more than 10,000 species, and yet their sister group, the Rhynchocephalia, is represented by a single species today, the tuatara. The explosion in squamate diversity has been tracked back to the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution, 100 million years ago (Ma), the time when flowering plants began their takeover of terrestrial ecosystems, associated with diversification of coevolving insects and insect-eating predators such as lizards, birds, and mammals. Squamates arose much earlier, but their long pre-Cretaceous history of some 150 million years (Myr) is documented by sparse fossils. Here, we provide evidence for an initial radiation of squamate morphology in the Middle and Late Jurassic (174-145 Ma), and show that they established their key ecological roles much earlier than had been assumed, and they have not changed them much since.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnau Bolet
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaCerdanyola del VallèsSpain
- School of Earth Sciences, University of BristolBristolUnited Kingdom
| | - Thomas L Stubbs
- School of Earth Sciences, University of BristolBristolUnited Kingdom
| | | | - Michael J Benton
- School of Earth Sciences, University of BristolBristolUnited Kingdom
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Cincotta A, Nicolaï M, Campos HBN, McNamara M, D'Alba L, Shawkey MD, Kischlat EE, Yans J, Carleer R, Escuillié F, Godefroit P. Pterosaur melanosomes support signalling functions for early feathers. Nature 2022; 604:684-688. [PMID: 35444275 PMCID: PMC9046085 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04622-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Remarkably well-preserved soft tissues in Mesozoic fossils have yielded substantial insights into the evolution of feathers1. New evidence of branched feathers in pterosaurs suggests that feathers originated in the avemetatarsalian ancestor of pterosaurs and dinosaurs in the Early Triassic2, but the homology of these pterosaur structures with feathers is controversial3,4. Reports of pterosaur feathers with homogeneous ovoid melanosome geometries2,5 suggest that they exhibited limited variation in colour, supporting hypotheses that early feathers functioned primarily in thermoregulation6. Here we report the presence of diverse melanosome geometries in the skin and simple and branched feathers of a tapejarid pterosaur from the Early Cretaceous found in Brazil. The melanosomes form distinct populations in different feather types and the skin, a feature previously known only in theropod dinosaurs, including birds. These tissue-specific melanosome geometries in pterosaurs indicate that manipulation of feather colour-and thus functions of feathers in visual communication-has deep evolutionary origins. These features show that genetic regulation of melanosome chemistry and shape7-9 was active early in feather evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aude Cincotta
- Directorate Earth and History of Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium. .,Institute of Life, Earth and Environment, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium. .,School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. .,Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
| | - Michaël Nicolaï
- Evolution and Optics of Nanostructures Group, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Maria McNamara
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. .,Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
| | - Liliana D'Alba
- Evolution and Optics of Nanostructures Group, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.,Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Matthew D Shawkey
- Evolution and Optics of Nanostructures Group, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Edio-Ernst Kischlat
- Divisão de Bacias Sedimentares, Geological Survey of Brazil, Porto Alegre, Brazil
| | - Johan Yans
- Institute of Life, Earth and Environment, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
| | - Robert Carleer
- Research Group of Analytical and Circular Chemistry, Institute for Material Research, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | | | - Pascal Godefroit
- Directorate Earth and History of Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
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Maina JN. Perspectives on the Structure and Function of the Avian Respiratory System: Functional Efficiency Built on Structural Complexity. FRONTIERS IN ANIMAL SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fanim.2022.851574] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Among the air-breathing vertebrates, regarding respiratory efficiency, the avian respiratory system rests at the evolutionary zenith. Structurally, it is separated into a lung that serves as a gas exchanger and air sacs that mechanically ventilate the lung continuously and unidirectionally in a caudocranial direction. Largely avascular, the air sacs are delicate, transparent, compliant and capacious air-filled spaces that are not meaningfully involved in gas exchange. The avian lungs are deeply and firmly attached to the vertebrae and the ribs on the dorsolateral aspects, rendering them practically rigid and inflexible. The attachment of the lung to the body wall allowed extreme subdivision of the exchange tissue into minuscule and stable terminal respiratory units, the air capillaries. The process generated a large respiratory surface area in small lungs with low volume density of gas exchange tissue. For the respiratory structures, invariably, thin blood-gas barrier, large respiratory surface area and large pulmonary capillary blood volume are the foremost adaptive structural features that confer large total pulmonary morphometric diffusing capacities of O2. At parabronchial level, the construction and the arrangement of the airway- and the vascular components of the avian lung determine the delivery, the presentation and the exposure of inspired air to capillary blood across the blood-gas barrier. In the avian lung, crosscurrent-, countercurrent- and multicapillary serial arterialization systems that stem from the organization of the structural parts of the lung promote gas exchange. The exceptional respiratory efficiency of the avian respiratory system stems from synergy of morphological properties and physiological processes, means by which O2 uptake is optimized and high metabolic states and capacities supported. Given that among the extant animal taxa insects, birds and bats (which accomplished volancy chronologically in that order) possess structurally much different respiratory systems, the avian respiratory system was by no means a prerequisite for evolution of powered flight but was but one of the adaptive solutions to realization of an exceptionally efficient mode of locomotion.
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Scanes CG, Witt J, Ebeling M, Schaller S, Baier V, Bone AJ, Preuss TG, Heckmann D. Quantitative Comparison of Avian and Mammalian Physiologies for Parameterization of Physiologically Based Kinetic Models. Front Physiol 2022; 13:858386. [PMID: 35450159 PMCID: PMC9016154 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.858386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2022] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Physiologically based kinetic (PBK) models facilitate chemical risk assessment by predicting in vivo exposure while reducing the need for animal testing. PBK models for mammals have seen significant progress, which has yet to be achieved for avian systems. Here, we quantitatively compare physiological, metabolic and anatomical characteristics between birds and mammals, with the aim of facilitating bird PBK model development. For some characteristics, there is considerable complementarity between avian and mammalian species with identical values for the following: blood hemoglobin and hemoglobin concentrations per unit erythrocyte volume together with relative weights of the liver, heart, and lungs. There are also systematic differences for some major characteristics between avian and mammalian species including erythrocyte volume, plasma concentrations of albumin, total protein and triglyceride together with liver cell size and relative weights of the kidney, spleen, and ovary. There are also major differences between characteristics between sexually mature and sexually immature female birds. For example, the relative weights of the ovary and oviduct are greater in sexually mature females compared to immature birds as are the plasma concentrations of triglyceride and vitellogenin. Both these sets of differences reflect the genetic "blue print" inherited from ancestral archosaurs such as the production of large eggs with yolk filled oocytes surrounded by egg white proteins, membranes and a calciferous shell together with adaptions for flight in birds or ancestrally in flightless birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin G. Scanes
- Department of Poultry Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, United States
- Department of Biological Science, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, United States
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Benton MJ, Wilf P, Sauquet H. The Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution and the origins of modern biodiversity. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2022; 233:2017-2035. [PMID: 34699613 DOI: 10.1111/nph.17822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 35.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Biodiversity today has the unusual property that 85% of plant and animal species live on land rather than in the sea, and half of these live in tropical rainforests. An explosive boost to terrestrial diversity occurred from c. 100-50 million years ago, the Late Cretaceous and early Palaeogene. During this interval, the Earth-life system on land was reset, and the biosphere expanded to a new level of productivity, enhancing the capacity and species diversity of terrestrial environments. This boost in terrestrial biodiversity coincided with innovations in flowering plant biology and evolutionary ecology, including their flowers and efficiencies in reproduction; coevolution with animals, especially pollinators and herbivores; photosynthetic capacities; adaptability; and ability to modify habitats. The rise of angiosperms triggered a macroecological revolution on land and drove modern biodiversity in a secular, prolonged shift to new, high levels, a series of processes we name here the Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Benton
- School of Earth Sciences, Life Sciences Building, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Hervé Sauquet
- National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
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Rothschild B. An apparently phylogeny-independent method for identification of skeletal (longitudinal) growth cessation (skeletal maturity) in birds. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2022; 305:2166-2174. [PMID: 35122476 DOI: 10.1002/ar.24882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Identification of skeletal maturity is of interest as a measure of species longevity and for identifying its maximal achievable size/mass. Measurement of age on the basis of growth arrest/accentuation lines (LAGs) and external fundamental system (EFS) evidences cessation or at least extreme slowing of circumferential bone growth. Such intramembranous (periosteal)-derived growth is distinct from the endochondral ossification responsible for longitudinal growth and therefore achievable organismal size/mass. As subchondral trans-cortical channels are required for nourishment, their loss should identify cessation of longitudinal growth. Predicated on phylogenetic bracketing/relationship and shared anatomical structures with and without growth plates, birds represent an appropriate model for the study of dinosaur ontogeny. Persistence of trans-cortical subchondral channels in the long bones of birds are examined at 100-200X magnification and correlated with bone length. Trans-cortical channels are present in subchondral articular surfaces, but disappear when terminal longitudinal growth is achieved. Articular vascular channels perforating articular surfaces from within the bone are detected. Loss of penetrating channels is interpreted as evidence of skeletal growth cessation, identifying the longitudinal bone length at which skeletal growth cessation has been achieved. The current study provides evidence that maximal bone length does correlate with endochondral cessation growth. Failure of circumferential growth reduction/cessation to correlate with bone length may be related to lack of synchronicity of periosteal-based circumferential growth with the endochondral process responsible for bone lengthening. Loss/closure of articular vascular channels may be the most reliable measure of a bird's achievement of maximal growth (indicating cessation of appendicular element lengthening). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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