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Mahendrarajah TA, Moody ERR, Schrempf D, Szánthó LL, Dombrowski N, Davín AA, Pisani D, Donoghue PCJ, Szöllősi GJ, Williams TA, Spang A. ATP synthase evolution on a cross-braced dated tree of life. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7456. [PMID: 37978174 PMCID: PMC10656485 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42924-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: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 10/25/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The timing of early cellular evolution, from the divergence of Archaea and Bacteria to the origin of eukaryotes, is poorly constrained. The ATP synthase complex is thought to have originated prior to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) and analyses of ATP synthase genes, together with ribosomes, have played a key role in inferring and rooting the tree of life. We reconstruct the evolutionary history of ATP synthases using an expanded taxon sampling set and develop a phylogenetic cross-bracing approach, constraining equivalent speciation nodes to be contemporaneous, based on the phylogenetic imprint of endosymbioses and ancient gene duplications. This approach results in a highly resolved, dated species tree and establishes an absolute timeline for ATP synthase evolution. Our analyses show that the divergence of ATP synthase into F- and A/V-type lineages was a very early event in cellular evolution dating back to more than 4 Ga, potentially predating the diversification of Archaea and Bacteria. Our cross-braced, dated tree of life also provides insight into more recent evolutionary transitions including eukaryogenesis, showing that the eukaryotic nuclear and mitochondrial lineages diverged from their closest archaeal (2.67-2.19 Ga) and bacterial (2.58-2.12 Ga) relatives at approximately the same time, with a slightly longer nuclear stem-lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tara A Mahendrarajah
- Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, AB Den Burg, The Netherlands
| | - Edmund R R Moody
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, BS8 1TQ, Bristol, UK
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, BS8 1TQ, Bristol, UK
| | - Dominik Schrempf
- Department Biological Physics, Eötvös University, Pázmány P. stny. 1A., H-1117, Budapest, Hungary
- MTA-ELTE "Lendulet" Evolutionary Genomics Research Group, Pázmány P. stny. 1A., H-1117, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Lénárd L Szánthó
- Department Biological Physics, Eötvös University, Pázmány P. stny. 1A., H-1117, Budapest, Hungary
- MTA-ELTE "Lendulet" Evolutionary Genomics Research Group, Pázmány P. stny. 1A., H-1117, Budapest, Hungary
- Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, Karolina ut 29, H-1113, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Nina Dombrowski
- Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, AB Den Burg, The Netherlands
| | - Adrián A Davín
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Davide Pisani
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, BS8 1TQ, Bristol, UK
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, BS8 1TQ, Bristol, UK
| | - Philip C J Donoghue
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, BS8 1TQ, Bristol, UK
| | - Gergely J Szöllősi
- Department Biological Physics, Eötvös University, Pázmány P. stny. 1A., H-1117, Budapest, Hungary
- MTA-ELTE "Lendulet" Evolutionary Genomics Research Group, Pázmány P. stny. 1A., H-1117, Budapest, Hungary
- Model-Based Evolutionary Genomics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Tom A Williams
- Bristol Palaeobiology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, BS8 1TQ, Bristol, UK.
| | - Anja Spang
- Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, AB Den Burg, The Netherlands.
- Department of Evolutionary & Population Biology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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Cardona T, Sánchez‐Baracaldo P, Rutherford AW, Larkum AW. Early Archean origin of Photosystem II. GEOBIOLOGY 2019; 17:127-150. [PMID: 30411862 PMCID: PMC6492235 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2018] [Revised: 10/03/2018] [Accepted: 10/11/2018] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Photosystem II is a photochemical reaction center that catalyzes the light-driven oxidation of water to molecular oxygen. Water oxidation is the distinctive photochemical reaction that permitted the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis and the eventual rise of eukaryotes. At what point during the history of life an ancestral photosystem evolved the capacity to oxidize water still remains unknown. Here, we study the evolution of the core reaction center proteins of Photosystem II using sequence and structural comparisons in combination with Bayesian relaxed molecular clocks. Our results indicate that a homodimeric photosystem with sufficient oxidizing power to split water had already appeared in the early Archean about a billion years before the most recent common ancestor of all described Cyanobacteria capable of oxygenic photosynthesis, and well before the diversification of some of the known groups of anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria. Based on a structural and functional rationale, we hypothesize that this early Archean photosystem was capable of water oxidation to oxygen and had already evolved protection mechanisms against the formation of reactive oxygen species. This would place primordial forms of oxygenic photosynthesis at a very early stage in the evolutionary history of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanai Cardona
- Department of Life SciencesImperial College LondonLondonUK
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Howard RJ, Edgecombe GD, Legg DA, Pisani D, Lozano-Fernandez J. Exploring the evolution and terrestrialization of scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones) with rocks and clocks. ORG DIVERS EVOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s13127-019-00390-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
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Barrales-Alcalá D, Francke OF, Prendini L. Systematic Revision of the Giant Vinegaroons of theMastigoproctus giganteusComplex (Thelyphonida: Thelyphonidae) of North America. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 2018. [DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090-418.1.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Diego Barrales-Alcalá
- Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Colección Nacional de Arácnidos, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
| | - Oscar F. Francke
- Colección Nacional de Arácnidos, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
| | - Lorenzo Prendini
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History
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A revised dated phylogeny of scorpions: Phylogenomic support for ancient divergence of the temperate Gondwanan family Bothriuridae. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2018; 122:37-45. [PMID: 29366829 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2018.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2017] [Revised: 12/12/2017] [Accepted: 01/02/2018] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The scorpion family Bothriuridae occupies a subset of landmasses formerly constituting East and West temperate Gondwana, but its relationship to other scorpion families is in question. Whereas morphological data have strongly supported a sister group relationship of Bothriuridae and the superfamily Scorpionoidea, a recent phylogenomic analysis recovered a basal placement of bothriurids within Iurida, albeit sampling only a single exemplar. Here we reexamined the phylogenetic placement of the family Bothriuridae, sampling six bothriurid exemplars representing both East and West Gondwana, using transcriptomic data. Our results demonstrate that the sister group relationship of Bothriuridae to the clade ("Chactoidea" + Scorpionoidea) is supported by the inclusion of additional bothriurid taxa, and that this placement is insensitive to matrix completeness or partitioning by evolutionary rate. We also estimated divergence times within the order Scorpiones using multiple fossil calibrations, to infer whether the family Bothriuridae is sufficiently old to be characterized as a true Gondwanan lineage. We show that scorpions underwent ancient diversification between the Devonian and early Carboniferous. The age interval of the bothriurids sampled (a derived group that excludes exemplars from South Africa) spans the timing of breakup of temperate Gondwana.
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Schwager EE, Sharma PP, Clarke T, Leite DJ, Wierschin T, Pechmann M, Akiyama-Oda Y, Esposito L, Bechsgaard J, Bilde T, Buffry AD, Chao H, Dinh H, Doddapaneni H, Dugan S, Eibner C, Extavour CG, Funch P, Garb J, Gonzalez LB, Gonzalez VL, Griffiths-Jones S, Han Y, Hayashi C, Hilbrant M, Hughes DST, Janssen R, Lee SL, Maeso I, Murali SC, Muzny DM, Nunes da Fonseca R, Paese CLB, Qu J, Ronshaugen M, Schomburg C, Schönauer A, Stollewerk A, Torres-Oliva M, Turetzek N, Vanthournout B, Werren JH, Wolff C, Worley KC, Bucher G, Gibbs RA, Coddington J, Oda H, Stanke M, Ayoub NA, Prpic NM, Flot JF, Posnien N, Richards S, McGregor AP. The house spider genome reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication during arachnid evolution. BMC Biol 2017. [PMID: 28756775 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-017-0399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/17/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The duplication of genes can occur through various mechanisms and is thought to make a major contribution to the evolutionary diversification of organisms. There is increasing evidence for a large-scale duplication of genes in some chelicerate lineages including two rounds of whole genome duplication (WGD) in horseshoe crabs. To investigate this further, we sequenced and analyzed the genome of the common house spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum. RESULTS We found pervasive duplication of both coding and non-coding genes in this spider, including two clusters of Hox genes. Analysis of synteny conservation across the P. tepidariorum genome suggests that there has been an ancient WGD in spiders. Comparison with the genomes of other chelicerates, including that of the newly sequenced bark scorpion Centruroides sculpturatus, suggests that this event occurred in the common ancestor of spiders and scorpions, and is probably independent of the WGDs in horseshoe crabs. Furthermore, characterization of the sequence and expression of the Hox paralogs in P. tepidariorum suggests that many have been subject to neo-functionalization and/or sub-functionalization since their duplication. CONCLUSIONS Our results reveal that spiders and scorpions are likely the descendants of a polyploid ancestor that lived more than 450 MYA. Given the extensive morphological diversity and ecological adaptations found among these animals, rivaling those of vertebrates, our study of the ancient WGD event in Arachnopulmonata provides a new comparative platform to explore common and divergent evolutionary outcomes of polyploidization events across eukaryotes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelyn E Schwager
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 198 Riverside Street, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Prashant P Sharma
- Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
| | - Thomas Clarke
- Department of Biology, Washington and Lee University, 204 West Washington Street, Lexington, VA, 24450, USA
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
- J. Craig Venter Institute, 9714 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Daniel J Leite
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Torsten Wierschin
- Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald, Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, Walther-Rathenau-Str. 47, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Matthias Pechmann
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany
- Department of Developmental Biology, University of Cologne, Cologne Biocenter, Institute of Zoology, Zuelpicher Straße 47b, 50674, Cologne, Germany
| | - Yasuko Akiyama-Oda
- JT Biohistory Research Hall, 1-1 Murasaki-cho, Takatsuki, Osaka, 569-1125, Japan
- Osaka Medical College, Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan
| | - Lauren Esposito
- Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA
| | - Jesper Bechsgaard
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, building 1540, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Trine Bilde
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, building 1540, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Alexandra D Buffry
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Hsu Chao
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Huyen Dinh
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - HarshaVardhan Doddapaneni
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Shannon Dugan
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Cornelius Eibner
- Department of Genetics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Philosophenweg 12, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Cassandra G Extavour
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Peter Funch
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, building 1540, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Jessica Garb
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 198 Riverside Street, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Luis B Gonzalez
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Vanessa L Gonzalez
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, MRC-163, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA
| | - Sam Griffiths-Jones
- Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, D.1416 Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Yi Han
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Cheryl Hayashi
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 10024, USA
| | - Maarten Hilbrant
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
- Department of Developmental Biology, University of Cologne, Cologne Biocenter, Institute of Zoology, Zuelpicher Straße 47b, 50674, Cologne, Germany
| | - Daniel S T Hughes
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Ralf Janssen
- Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Sandra L Lee
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Ignacio Maeso
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Shwetha C Murali
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Donna M Muzny
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Rodrigo Nunes da Fonseca
- Nucleo em Ecologia e Desenvolvimento SocioAmbiental de Macaé (NUPEM), Campus Macaé, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, 27941-222, Brazil
| | - Christian L B Paese
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Jiaxin Qu
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Matthew Ronshaugen
- Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, D.1416 Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Christoph Schomburg
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Anna Schönauer
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Angelika Stollewerk
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, E1 4NS, London, UK
| | - Montserrat Torres-Oliva
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Natascha Turetzek
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Bram Vanthournout
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, building 1540, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
- Evolution and Optics of Nanostructure group (EON), Biology Department, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
| | - John H Werren
- Biology Department, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14627, USA
| | - Carsten Wolff
- Humboldt-Universität of Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Philippstr.13, 10115, Berlin, Germany
| | - Kim C Worley
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Gregor Bucher
- Department of Evolutionary Developmental Genetics, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institute, GZMB, Georg-August-University, Göttingen Campus, Justus von Liebig Weg 11, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Richard A Gibbs
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
| | - Jonathan Coddington
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, MRC-163, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA.
| | - Hiroki Oda
- JT Biohistory Research Hall, 1-1 Murasaki-cho, Takatsuki, Osaka, 569-1125, Japan.
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
| | - Mario Stanke
- Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald, Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, Walther-Rathenau-Str. 47, 17487, Greifswald, Germany.
| | - Nadia A Ayoub
- Department of Biology, Washington and Lee University, 204 West Washington Street, Lexington, VA, 24450, USA.
| | - Nikola-Michael Prpic
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany.
| | - Jean-François Flot
- Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, C.P. 160/12, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
| | - Nico Posnien
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany.
| | - Stephen Richards
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
| | - Alistair P McGregor
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK.
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Schwager EE, Sharma PP, Clarke T, Leite DJ, Wierschin T, Pechmann M, Akiyama-Oda Y, Esposito L, Bechsgaard J, Bilde T, Buffry AD, Chao H, Dinh H, Doddapaneni H, Dugan S, Eibner C, Extavour CG, Funch P, Garb J, Gonzalez LB, Gonzalez VL, Griffiths-Jones S, Han Y, Hayashi C, Hilbrant M, Hughes DST, Janssen R, Lee SL, Maeso I, Murali SC, Muzny DM, Nunes da Fonseca R, Paese CLB, Qu J, Ronshaugen M, Schomburg C, Schönauer A, Stollewerk A, Torres-Oliva M, Turetzek N, Vanthournout B, Werren JH, Wolff C, Worley KC, Bucher G, Gibbs RA, Coddington J, Oda H, Stanke M, Ayoub NA, Prpic NM, Flot JF, Posnien N, Richards S, McGregor AP. The house spider genome reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication during arachnid evolution. BMC Biol 2017; 15:62. [PMID: 28756775 PMCID: PMC5535294 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-017-0399-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 197] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2017] [Accepted: 06/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The duplication of genes can occur through various mechanisms and is thought to make a major contribution to the evolutionary diversification of organisms. There is increasing evidence for a large-scale duplication of genes in some chelicerate lineages including two rounds of whole genome duplication (WGD) in horseshoe crabs. To investigate this further, we sequenced and analyzed the genome of the common house spider Parasteatoda tepidariorum. Results We found pervasive duplication of both coding and non-coding genes in this spider, including two clusters of Hox genes. Analysis of synteny conservation across the P. tepidariorum genome suggests that there has been an ancient WGD in spiders. Comparison with the genomes of other chelicerates, including that of the newly sequenced bark scorpion Centruroides sculpturatus, suggests that this event occurred in the common ancestor of spiders and scorpions, and is probably independent of the WGDs in horseshoe crabs. Furthermore, characterization of the sequence and expression of the Hox paralogs in P. tepidariorum suggests that many have been subject to neo-functionalization and/or sub-functionalization since their duplication. Conclusions Our results reveal that spiders and scorpions are likely the descendants of a polyploid ancestor that lived more than 450 MYA. Given the extensive morphological diversity and ecological adaptations found among these animals, rivaling those of vertebrates, our study of the ancient WGD event in Arachnopulmonata provides a new comparative platform to explore common and divergent evolutionary outcomes of polyploidization events across eukaryotes. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-017-0399-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelyn E Schwager
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 198 Riverside Street, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Prashant P Sharma
- Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
| | - Thomas Clarke
- Department of Biology, Washington and Lee University, 204 West Washington Street, Lexington, VA, 24450, USA.,Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA.,J. Craig Venter Institute, 9714 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA
| | - Daniel J Leite
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Torsten Wierschin
- Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald, Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, Walther-Rathenau-Str. 47, 17487, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Matthias Pechmann
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany.,Department of Developmental Biology, University of Cologne, Cologne Biocenter, Institute of Zoology, Zuelpicher Straße 47b, 50674, Cologne, Germany
| | - Yasuko Akiyama-Oda
- JT Biohistory Research Hall, 1-1 Murasaki-cho, Takatsuki, Osaka, 569-1125, Japan.,Osaka Medical College, Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan
| | - Lauren Esposito
- Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA
| | - Jesper Bechsgaard
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, building 1540, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Trine Bilde
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, building 1540, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Alexandra D Buffry
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Hsu Chao
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Huyen Dinh
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - HarshaVardhan Doddapaneni
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Shannon Dugan
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Cornelius Eibner
- Department of Genetics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Philosophenweg 12, 07743, Jena, Germany
| | - Cassandra G Extavour
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Peter Funch
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, building 1540, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Jessica Garb
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 198 Riverside Street, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Luis B Gonzalez
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Vanessa L Gonzalez
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, MRC-163, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA
| | - Sam Griffiths-Jones
- Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, D.1416 Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Yi Han
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Cheryl Hayashi
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA.,Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, 10024, USA
| | - Maarten Hilbrant
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK.,Department of Developmental Biology, University of Cologne, Cologne Biocenter, Institute of Zoology, Zuelpicher Straße 47b, 50674, Cologne, Germany
| | - Daniel S T Hughes
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Ralf Janssen
- Department of Earth Sciences, Palaeobiology, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Sandra L Lee
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Ignacio Maeso
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Shwetha C Murali
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Donna M Muzny
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Rodrigo Nunes da Fonseca
- Nucleo em Ecologia e Desenvolvimento SocioAmbiental de Macaé (NUPEM), Campus Macaé, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, 27941-222, Brazil
| | - Christian L B Paese
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Jiaxin Qu
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Matthew Ronshaugen
- Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, D.1416 Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Christoph Schomburg
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Anna Schönauer
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK
| | - Angelika Stollewerk
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, E1 4NS, London, UK
| | - Montserrat Torres-Oliva
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Natascha Turetzek
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany
| | - Bram Vanthournout
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, building 1540, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.,Evolution and Optics of Nanostructure group (EON), Biology Department, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
| | - John H Werren
- Biology Department, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 14627, USA
| | - Carsten Wolff
- Humboldt-Universität of Berlin, Institut für Biologie, Philippstr.13, 10115, Berlin, Germany
| | - Kim C Worley
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Gregor Bucher
- Department of Evolutionary Developmental Genetics, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institute, GZMB, Georg-August-University, Göttingen Campus, Justus von Liebig Weg 11, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Richard A Gibbs
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
| | - Jonathan Coddington
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, MRC-163, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, USA.
| | - Hiroki Oda
- JT Biohistory Research Hall, 1-1 Murasaki-cho, Takatsuki, Osaka, 569-1125, Japan. .,Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
| | - Mario Stanke
- Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald, Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, Walther-Rathenau-Str. 47, 17487, Greifswald, Germany.
| | - Nadia A Ayoub
- Department of Biology, Washington and Lee University, 204 West Washington Street, Lexington, VA, 24450, USA.
| | - Nikola-Michael Prpic
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany.
| | - Jean-François Flot
- Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, C.P. 160/12, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
| | - Nico Posnien
- Department for Developmental Biology, University Goettingen, Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut for Zoology and Anthropology, GZMB Ernst-Caspari-Haus, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077, Goettingen, Germany.
| | - Stephen Richards
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
| | - Alistair P McGregor
- Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK.
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9
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Sharma PP, Oberski JT, Santiago MA, Kriebel R, Lipps SM, Buenavente PAC, Diesmos AC, Janda M, Boyer SL, Clouse RM, Wheeler WC. There is no evidence that Podoctidae carry eggs of their own species: Reply to Machado and Wolff (2017). Mol Phylogenet Evol 2017; 129:349-353. [PMID: 28433248 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.03.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2016] [Accepted: 03/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
In our recent publication (Sharma et al., 2017), we tested the hypothesis that eggs attached to the legs of male Podoctidae (Opiliones, Laniatores) constituted a case of paternal care, using molecular sequence data in tandem with multiple sequence alignments to test the prediction that sequences of the eggs and the adults that carried them would indicate conspecific identity. We discovered that the sequences of the eggs belonged to spiders, and thus rejected the paternal care hypothesis for these species. Machado and Wolff (2017) recently critiqued our work, which they regarded as a non-critical interpretation and over-reliance on molecular sequence data, and defended the traditional argument that the eggs attached to podoctids are in fact harvestman eggs. Here we show that additional molecular sequence data also refute the identity of the eggs as conspecific harvestman eggs, using molecular cloning techniques to rule out contamination. We show that individual gene trees consistently and reliably place the egg and adult sequences in disparate parts of the tree topology. Phylogenetic methods consistently place all egg sequences within the order Araneae (spiders). We submit that evidence for the paternal care hypothesis based on behavioral, morphological, and natural history approaches is either absent or insufficient for concluding that the eggs of podoctids are conspecific.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prashant P Sharma
- Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
| | - Jill T Oberski
- Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Marc A Santiago
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ricardo Kriebel
- Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Savana M Lipps
- Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA; Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Perry A C Buenavente
- Zoology Division, National Museum of the Philippines, Padre Burgos Avenue, Ermita 1000, Manila, Philippines
| | - Arvin C Diesmos
- Zoology Division, National Museum of the Philippines, Padre Burgos Avenue, Ermita 1000, Manila, Philippines
| | - Milan Janda
- Laboratorio Nacional de Análisis y Síntesis Ecológica, ENES, UNAM, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro, 8701 Morelia, Mexico; Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Sarah L Boyer
- Biology Department, Macalester College, 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105, USA
| | - Ronald M Clouse
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ward C Wheeler
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY, USA
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10
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Starrett J, Derkarabetian S, Hedin M, Bryson RW, McCormack JE, Faircloth BC. High phylogenetic utility of an ultraconserved element probe set designed for Arachnida. Mol Ecol Resour 2016; 17:812-823. [PMID: 27768256 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.12621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2016] [Revised: 09/24/2016] [Accepted: 10/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Arachnida is an ancient, diverse and ecologically important animal group that contains a number of species of interest for medical, agricultural and engineering applications. Despite their importance, many aspects of the arachnid tree of life remain unresolved, hindering comparative approaches to arachnid biology. Biologists have made considerable efforts to resolve the arachnid phylogeny; yet, limited and challenging morphological characters, as well as a dearth of genetic resources, have hindered progress. Here, we present a genomic toolkit for arachnids featuring hundreds of conserved DNA regions (ultraconserved elements or UCEs) that allow targeted sequencing of any species in the arachnid tree of life. We used recently developed capture probes designed from conserved regions of available arachnid genomes to enrich a sample of loci from 32 diverse arachnids. Sequence capture returned an average of 487 UCE loci for all species, with a range from 170 to 722. Phylogenetic analysis of these UCEs produced a highly resolved arachnid tree with relationships largely consistent with recent transcriptome-based phylogenies. We also tested the phylogenetic informativeness of UCE probes within the spider, scorpion and harvestman orders, demonstrating the utility of these markers at shallower taxonomic scales and suggesting that these loci will be useful for species-level differences. This probe set will open the door to phylogenomic and population genomic studies across the arachnid tree of life, enabling systematics, species delimitation, species discovery and conservation of these diverse arthropods.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Starrett
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
| | - Shahan Derkarabetian
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA.,Department of Biology, University of California, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
| | - Marshal Hedin
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA
| | - Robert W Bryson
- Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, 4331 Memorial Way Northeast, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.,Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, 90041, USA
| | - John E McCormack
- Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, 90041, USA
| | - Brant C Faircloth
- Department of Biological Sciences and Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
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11
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Sharma PP, Santiago MA, González-Santillán E, Monod L, Wheeler WC. Evidence of duplicated Hox genes in the most recent common ancestor of extant scorpions. Evol Dev 2016; 17:347-55. [PMID: 26492826 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Scorpions (order Scorpiones) are unusual among arthropods, both for the extreme heteronomy of their bauplan and for the high gene family turnover exhibited in their genomes. These phenomena appear to be correlated, as two scorpion species have been shown to possess nearly twice the number of Hox genes present in most arthropods. Segmentally offset anterior expression boundaries of a subset of Hox paralogs have been shown to correspond to transitions in segmental identities in the scorpion posterior tagmata, suggesting that posterior heteronomy in scorpions may have been achieved by neofunctionalization of Hox paralogs. However, both the first scorpion genome sequenced and the developmental genetic data are based on exemplars of Buthidae, one of 19 families of scorpions. It is therefore not known whether Hox paralogy is limited to Buthidae or widespread among scorpions. We surveyed 24 high throughput transcriptomes and the single whole genome available for scorpions, in order to test the prediction that Hox gene duplications are common to the order. We used gene tree parsimony to infer whether the paralogy was consistent with a duplication event in the scorpion common ancestor. Here we show that duplicated Hox genes in non-buthid scorpions occur in six of the ten Hox classes. Gene tree topologies and parsimony-based reconciliation of the gene trees are consistent with a duplication event in the most recent common ancestor of scorpions. These results suggest that a Hox paralogy, and by extension the model of posterior patterning established in a buthid, can be extended to non-Buthidae scorpions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Prashant P Sharma
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA.,Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
| | - Marc A Santiago
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Edmundo González-Santillán
- Laboratorio Nacional de Genómica para la Biodiversidad, Centro de Investigaciones y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, and Laboratorio de Aracnología, Departamento de Biología Comparada, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, México D.F., México
| | - Lionel Monod
- Département des Arthropodes et d'Entomologie I, Muséum d'histoire naturelle de la Ville de Genève, Route de Malagnou 1, CH-1208 Genève, Suisse
| | - Ward C Wheeler
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
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12
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Sharma PP, Fernández R, Esposito LA, González-Santillán E, Monod L. Phylogenomic resolution of scorpions reveals multilevel discordance with morphological phylogenetic signal. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 282:20142953. [PMID: 25716788 PMCID: PMC4375871 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2014] [Accepted: 01/26/2015] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Scorpions represent an iconic lineage of arthropods, historically renowned for their unique bauplan, ancient fossil record and venom potency. Yet, higher level relationships of scorpions, based exclusively on morphology, remain virtually untested, and no multilocus molecular phylogeny has been deployed heretofore towards assessing the basal tree topology. We applied a phylogenomic assessment to resolve scorpion phylogeny, for the first time, to our knowledge, sampling extensive molecular sequence data from all superfamilies and examining basal relationships with up to 5025 genes. Analyses of supermatrices as well as species tree approaches converged upon a robust basal topology of scorpions that is entirely at odds with traditional systematics and controverts previous understanding of scorpion evolutionary history. All analyses unanimously support a single origin of katoikogenic development, a form of parental investment wherein embryos are nurtured by direct connections to the parent's digestive system. Based on the phylogeny obtained herein, we propose the following systematic emendations: Caraboctonidae is transferred to Chactoidea new superfamilial assignment: ; superfamily Bothriuroidea revalidated: is resurrected and Bothriuridae transferred therein; and Chaerilida and Pseudochactida are synonymized with Buthida new parvordinal synonymies: .
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Affiliation(s)
- Prashant P Sharma
- Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Rosa Fernández
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Lauren A Esposito
- Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California at Berkeley, 130 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Edmundo González-Santillán
- Laboratorio Nacional de Genómica para la Biodiversidad, Centro de Investigaciones y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, and Laboratorio de Aracnología, Departamento de Biología Comparada, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, México DF, México
| | - Lionel Monod
- Département des Arthropodes et d'Entomologie I, Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de la Ville de Genève, Route de Malagnou 1, Genève 1208, Switzerland
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13
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Abstract
Opiliones are one of the largest arachnid orders, with more than 6,500 species in 50 families. Many of these families have been erected or reorganized in the last few years since the publication of The Biology of Opiliones. Recent years have also seen an explosion in phylogenetic work on Opiliones, as well as in studies using Opiliones as test cases to address biogeographic and evolutionary questions more broadly. Accelerated activity in the study of Opiliones evolution has been facilitated by the discovery of several key fossils, including the oldest known Opiliones fossil, which represents a new, extinct suborder. Study of the group's biology has also benefited from rapid accrual of genomic resources, particularly with respect to transcriptomes and functional genetic tools. The rapid emergence and utility of Phalangium opilio as a model for evolutionary developmental biology of arthropods serve as demonstrative evidence of a new area of study in Opiliones biology, made possible through transcriptomic data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gonzalo Giribet
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138;
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