scholarly journals Myoglobin primary structure reveals multiple convergent transitions to semi-aquatic life in the world’s smallest mammalian divers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai He ◽  
Triston G. Eastman ◽  
Hannah Czolacz ◽  
Shuhao Li ◽  
Akio Shinohara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Primary Structure ◽  
Protein Sequence ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Muscle Protein ◽  
Molecular Signature ◽  
Aquatic Life ◽  
Morphological Convergence ◽  
Novel Approaches

AbstractIdentifying the phylogenomic underpinnings of specialized phenotypes that fueled transitions into new adaptive zones is central to evolutionary biology but is often confounded by a fragmentary fossil record, morphological convergence, and unresolved phylogenetic relationships. The speciose mammalian order Eulipotyphla (e.g., moles, shrews, hedgehogs, solenodons) combines an unusual diversity of semi-aquatic, semi-fossorial, and fossorial forms that arose from terrestrial forbearers, yet the ecomorphological pathways leading to these lifestyles have been disputed for a century and more, calling for novel approaches. Here we resolve previously intractable eulipotyphlan intra-family relationships and establish the net surface charge of the oxygen-storing muscle protein myoglobin-readily determined from its primary structure-as a molecular signature to trace ancient lifestyle transitions based on protein sequence alone. Our analyses confidently resolve fossorial habits having evolved twice in talpid moles and reveal five independent origins of a semi-aquatic lifestyle in the order housing the world’s smallest endothermic divers.

Darwin's two competing phylogenetic trees: marsupials as ancestors or sister taxa?

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Archibald
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
The Other ◽  
Charles Lyell ◽  
Single Origin ◽  
Molecular Studies ◽  
Richard Owen ◽  
First Time

Studies of the origin and diversification of major groups of plants and animals are contentious topics in current evolutionary biology. This includes the study of the timing and relationships of the two major clades of extant mammals – marsupials and placentals. Molecular studies concerned with marsupial and placental origin and diversification can be at odds with the fossil record. Such studies are, however, not a recent phenomenon. Over 150 years ago Charles Darwin weighed two alternative views on the origin of marsupials and placentals. Less than a year after the publication of On the origin of species, Darwin outlined these in a letter to Charles Lyell dated 23 September 1860. The letter concluded with two competing phylogenetic diagrams. One showed marsupials as ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals, whereas the other showed a non-marsupial, non-placental as being ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals. These two diagrams are published here for the first time. These are the only such competing phylogenetic diagrams that Darwin is known to have produced. In addition to examining the question of mammalian origins in this letter and in other manuscript notes discussed here, Darwin confronted the broader issue as to whether major groups of animals had a single origin (monophyly) or were the result of “continuous creation” as advocated for some groups by Richard Owen. Charles Lyell had held similar views to those of Owen, but it is clear from correspondence with Darwin that he was beginning to accept the idea of monophyly of major groups.

Bivalve systematics during the 20th century

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 1119-1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay A. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Molecular Systematics ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Invertebrate Paleontology

Over the past 75 years, the higher-level taxonomy of bivalves has received less attention than that of their fellow molluscs, gastropods. The publication of the bivalve volumes of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology in 1969 was not followed by an explosion of study into the evolution of bivalves; rather, with only one or two exceptions, bivalve workers were noticeably absent from the cladistic and molecular revolutions that were taking place during the 1970s and 1980s, even as gastropods received considerable attention. Over the past ten years, cladistics and molecular systematics have begun to be applied to solve problems of bivalve evolutionary biology. These studies, most of which have been undertaken by paleontologists, have halted the stagnation in bivalve systematics. Bivalve systematics looks to have an exciting future, as the excellent fossil record of the Bivalvia will be used in conjunction with cladistics and molecular systematics to solve problems in not just bivalve evolution but evolutionary biology in general.

Paleontology's Greatest Hits

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 17-40
Author(s):  
Richard K. Bambach
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Analytical Study ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Paleontological Society ◽  
Link Pattern ◽  
The Way

Although this paper mentions many specific discoveries and advances it is not intended as a catalog of the “biggest hits” in the sense of public notice, but rather it is an effort to chart how the diversity of paleontological work in the last century fits into the context of the biggest hit of all, the emergence of a “new paleontology” in which conceptual advances have revolutionized every aspect of our profession. When the Paleontological Society was founded no unambiguous fossils were known from the immense stretch of Precambrian time and no hominine fossils were known from Africa. Rigorous phylogenetic analysis and a seat for paleontology at the “high table” of evolutionary biology were in the future. Where once we learned a series of guide fossils and thought we had studied paleontology, now students explore taphonomy, paleoeocology, geobiology and macroevolution in our general courses on paleontology. This paper attempts to take notice of some of the highlights of our evolution from a field focused on cataloging and describing the contents of the fossil record into a complex, multidisciplinary endeavor focused on analytical study of general questions. Some of those hits have been discoveries that document the course of evolution, some have been new conceptual approaches that give us insights that link pattern to process, some are new ways of compiling, analyzing or communicating our knowledge. But with all that the study of the history of life remains at the heart of our profession. The change has been the shift in goal from description to understanding of that history, from “what” to “how.” The greatest hits have been the steps that have opened the way to understanding, that have made following the path possible.

The primary structure of the fourth component of human complement (C4)-C-terminal peptides

1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 913-921 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Alex Law ◽  
Jean Gagnon
Keyword(s):  
Primary Structure ◽  
Protein Sequence ◽  
Human Complement ◽  
Cdna Sequencing ◽  
Complement C4 ◽  
Fourth Component ◽  
Polypeptide Chains ◽  
Complete Primary Structure

C-terminal CNBr peptides of the three polypeptide chains of C4 were obtained and sequenced. These results supplement previously obtained data, notably the protein sequence derived from cDNA sequencing of pro-C4 (Belt KT, Carroll MC & Porter RR (1984) Cell36, 907–914) and the N-terminal sequences of the three polypeptides (Gigli I, von Zabern I & Porter RR (1977) Biochem. J.165, 439–446), to define the complete primary structure of the plasma form of C4. The β (656 residues), α (748 residues), and γ (291 residues) chains are found in positions 1–656, 661–1408, and 1435–1725 in the pro-C4 molecule.

Inferring natural selection in a fossil threespine stickleback

Paleobiology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Bell ◽  
Matthew P. Travis ◽  
D. Max Blouw
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Random Process ◽  
Genetic Drift ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Stabilizing Selection ◽  
Persistent Problem ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Lines Of Evidence

Inferring the causes for change in the fossil record has been a persistent problem in evolutionary biology. Three independent lines of evidence indicate that a lineage of the fossil stickleback fish Gasterosteus doryssus experienced directional natural selection for reduction of armor. Nonetheless, application to this lineage of three methods to infer natural selection in the fossil record could not exclude random process as the cause for armor change. Excluding stabilizing selection and genetic drift as the mechanisms for biostratigraphic patterns in the fossil record when directional natural selection was the actual cause is very difficult. Biostratigraphic sequences with extremely fine temporal resolution among samples and other favorable properties must be used to infer directional selection in the fossil record.

scholarly journals Ecological opportunity and the rise and fall of crocodylomorph evolutionary innovation

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1947) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Stubbs ◽  
Stephanie E. Pierce ◽  
Armin Elsler ◽  
Philip S. L. Anderson ◽  
Emily J. Rayfield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Evolutionary Rates ◽  
Apex Predators ◽  
Ecological Opportunity ◽  
Evolutionary Innovation ◽  
Great Heterogeneity ◽  
Living Species

Understanding the origin, expansion and loss of biodiversity is fundamental to evolutionary biology. The approximately 26 living species of crocodylomorphs (crocodiles, caimans, alligators and gharials) represent just a snapshot of the group's rich 230-million-year history, whereas the fossil record reveals a hidden past of great diversity and innovation, including ocean and land-dwelling forms, herbivores, omnivores and apex predators. In this macroevolutionary study of skull and jaw shape disparity, we show that crocodylomorph ecomorphological variation peaked in the Cretaceous, before declining in the Cenozoic, and the rise and fall of disparity was associated with great heterogeneity in evolutionary rates. Taxonomically diverse and ecologically divergent Mesozoic crocodylomorphs, like marine thalattosuchians and terrestrial notosuchians, rapidly evolved novel skull and jaw morphologies to fill specialized adaptive zones. Disparity in semi-aquatic predatory crocodylians, the only living crocodylomorph representatives, accumulated steadily, and they evolved more slowly for most of the last 80 million years, but despite their conservatism there is no evidence for long-term evolutionary stagnation. These complex evolutionary dynamics reflect ecological opportunities, that were readily exploited by some Mesozoic crocodylomorphs but more limited in Cenozoic crocodylians.

scholarly journals Understanding the dynamics of trends within evolving lineages

Paleobiology ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Alroy
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Morphological Characters ◽  
Evolutionary Trends ◽  
Practice Questions ◽  
Temporal Sequences ◽  
Meaningful Sense

The study of evolutionary trends is one of the oldest and most intriguing topics in evolutionary biology and paleobiology (McNamara 1990). Workers since Cuvier, Lyell, and Owen have wanted to know if the fossil record demonstrates “progression” within temporal sequences of related organisms. Regardless of whether changes in the average values of morphological characters are progressive in any meaningful sense, these changes are still of great interest. In practice, questions about trends are most commonly framed by paleontologists in terms of “complexity” (however defined) or body size (McShea 1998a).

scholarly journals Evolvability and the Fossil Record

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan C Love ◽  
Mark Grabowski ◽  
David Houle ◽  
Lee Hsiang Liow ◽  
Arthur Porto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Developmental Biology ◽  
Theoretical Studies ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
History Of ◽  
Measurement And Testing ◽  
Ecological Success ◽  
Relevant Variation ◽  
Phylogenetic Models

The concept of evolvability—the capacity of a population to produce and maintain evolutionarily relevant variation—has become increasingly prominent in evolutionary biology. Although paleontology has a long history of investigating questions of evolvability, often invoking different but allied terminology, the study of evolvability in the fossil record has seemed intrinsically problematic. How can we surmount difficulties in disentangling whether the causes of evolutionary patterns arise from variational properties of traits or lineages rather than due to selection and ecological success? Despite these challenges, the fossil record is unique in offering growing sources of data that span millions of years and therefore capture evolutionary patterns of sustained duration and significance otherwise inaccessible to evolutionary biologists. Additionally, there are a variety of strategic possibilities for combining prominent neontological approaches to evolvability with those from paleontology. We illustrate three of these possibilities with quantitative genetics, evolutionary developmental biology, and phylogenetic models of macroevolution. In conclusion, we provide a methodological schema that focuses on the conceptualization, measurement, and testing of hypotheses to motivate and provide guidance for future empirical and theoretical studies of evolvability in the fossil record.

Evolution of Biomineralization

1989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz A. Lowenstam ◽  
Stephen Weiner
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Molecular Structures ◽  
Comparative Biology ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
Hard Part ◽  
History Of ◽  
Acidic Proteins ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Time And Being

Biomineralization among living organisms is widespread, occurring in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. It is diverse with some 60 or so minerals known to be formed by organisms under a wide variety of conditions. They are deposited at many different locations both inside and outside cells. Biomineralization occurs on such an enormous scale that it influences processes in the biosphere itself. It is, therefore, of interest to determine how this all came about—the evolution of biomineralization. The evolutionary history of biomineralization is a fascinating subject in its own right, which is the primary reason for including it in this book. However, a well-substantiated understanding of this subject is also of crucial importance to the interpretation of many aspects of research into the mechanisms of biomineralization in living organisms. An example is the observation by Veis et al. (1986) that antibodies raised against the rat incisor acidic proteins, phosphophoryns, crossreact with proteins extracted from a sea urchin test. The proteins presumably share some similar molecular structures. Did they inherit them from a common ancestor or did they evolve independently from each other to fulfill similar functions? This type of question can be asked about many comparative studies in biomineralization between phyla or even within lower taxa of the same phyla. As long as we do not have answers to these questions, the powerful tool of comparative biology in biomineralization is compromised. Studying the evolution of biomineralization has one enormous advantage over many other topics in evolutionary biology; the very material that we are interested in has the best chance of surviving the vagaries of time and being preserved in the fossil record. The fossil record at least during the last 600 million years or so is, for the most part, a documentation of remnants of the history of mineralized hard part formation by organisms. Thus, the evolution of biomineralization is one topic that can, and that should be based on the direct documentation of the fossil record. This is the way it is presented in this chapter. The corollary of this statement is also worth considering. The fossil record should be interpreted bearing in mind the evolution of biomineralization.

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