scholarly journals Bird neurocranial and body mass evolution across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction: The avian brain shape left other dinosaurs behind

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (31) ◽  
pp. eabg7099
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Torres ◽  
Mark A. Norell ◽  
Julia A. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Avian Brain ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
History Of ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Brain Shape

Birds today are the most diverse clade of terrestrial vertebrates, and understanding why extant birds (Aves) alone among dinosaurs survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction is crucial to reconstructing the history of life. Hypotheses proposed to explain this pattern demand identification of traits unique to Aves. However, this identification is complicated by a lack of data from non-avian birds. Here, we interrogate survivorship hypotheses using data from a new, nearly complete skull of Late Cretaceous (~70 million years) bird Ichthyornis and reassess shifts in bird body size across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Ichthyornis exhibited a wulst and segmented palate, previously proposed to have arisen within extant birds. The origin of Aves is marked by larger, reshaped brains indicating selection for relatively large telencephala and eyes but not by uniquely small body size. Sensory system differences, potentially linked to these shifts, may help explain avian survivorship relative to other dinosaurs.

scholarly journals Selection for small body size favours contrasting sex-specific life histories, boldness and feeding in medaka, Oryzias latipes

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Diaz Pauli ◽  
Sarah Garric ◽  
Charlotte Evangelista ◽  
L. Asbjørn Vøllestad ◽  
Eric Edeline
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Oryzias Latipes ◽  
Small Body Size ◽  
Selection For

scholarly journals Analysis of quantitative inheritance of body size in mice IV. An Attempt to isolate polygenes

1961 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. K. Chai
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Quantitative Inheritance ◽  
Breeding Scheme ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Large Genes

The isolation of single inheritance units affecting body size in mice has been attempted. By using Large and Small mice as the parental strains, a breeding scheme has been carried out by repeated backcrossing to each strain with selection for both large and small body sizes in each backcross. The selections were started from the second backcross generations. The Small backcross was carried to the seventh generation and the Large to the fifth. Based on analysis of the means and variances for the parental strains and the backcross generations, it is tentatively concluded that a small number of, if not single, inheritance units may have been introduced from the Large to the Small mice. The ‘large’ genes appear to be dominant over the ‘small’ genes.

scholarly journals The effect of replicated selection for body weight in mice on vertebral shape

1988 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. Johnson ◽  
P. O'Higgins ◽  
T. J. McAndrew
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Fourier Analysis ◽  
Shape Change ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Small Body Size ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Main Component ◽  
Vertebral Shape ◽  
And Control

SummaryThe shapes of T1 and T2 vertebrae from unselected Q strain mice and from strains selected for large and small body size were studied by Fourier analysis in order to ascertain whether shape change was produced by size selection. The vertebrae of large, small and control strains were easily distinguishable, but between replicate groups shape differences were less marked. The main component of shape change was size related, but mice unselected for size also showed a non-size-related shape change.

scholarly journals Assessment of the Growth and Reproductive Performance of Cloned Pietrain Boars

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2053
Author(s):  
Junsong Shi ◽  
Baohua Tan ◽  
Lvhua Luo ◽  
Zicong Li ◽  
Linjun Hong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Growth Performance ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Semen Quality ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Large Animal ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
F1 Progeny

How to maximize the use of the genetic merits of the high-ranking boars (also called superior ones) is a considerable question in the pig breeding industry, considering the money and time spent on selection. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) is one of the potential ways to answer the question, which can be applied to produce clones with genetic resources of superior boar for the production of commercial pigs. For practical application, it is essential to investigate whether the clones and their progeny keep behaving better than the “normal boars”, considering that in vitro culture and transfer manipulation would cause a series of harmful effects to the development of clones. In this study, 59,061 cloned embryos were transferred into 250 recipient sows to produce the clones of superior Pietrain boars. The growth performance of 12 clones and 36 non-clones and the semen quality of 19 clones and 28 non-clones were compared. The reproductive performance of 21 clones and 25 non-clones were also tested. Furthermore, we made a comparison in the growth performance between 466 progeny of the clones and 822 progeny of the non-clones. Our results showed that no significant difference in semen quality and reproductive performance was observed between the clones and the non-clones, although the clones grew slower and exhibited smaller body size than the non-clones. The F1 progeny of the clones showed a greater growth rate than the non-clones. Our results demonstrated through the large animal population showed that SCNT manipulation resulted in a low growth rate and small body size, but the clones could normally produce F1 progeny with excellent growth traits to bring more economic benefits. Therefore, SCNT could be effective in enlarging the merit genetics of the superior boars and increasing the economic benefits in pig reproduction and breeding.

scholarly journals Independent evolution towards larger body size in the distinctive Faroe Island mice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Wilches ◽  
William H Beluch ◽  
Ellen McConnell ◽  
Diethard Tautz ◽  
Yingguang Frank Chan
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Laboratory Mouse ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Island Population ◽  
Multiple Loci

Abstract Most phenotypic traits in nature involve the collective action of many genes. Traits that evolve repeatedly are particularly useful for understanding how selection may act on changing trait values. In mice, large body size has evolved repeatedly on islands and under artificial selection in the laboratory. Identifying the loci and genes involved in this process may shed light on the evolution of complex, polygenic traits. Here, we have mapped the genetic basis of body size variation by making a genetic cross between mice from the Faroe Islands, which are among the largest and most distinctive natural populations of mice in the world, and a laboratory mouse strain selected for small body size, SM/J. Using this F2 intercross of 841 animals, we have identified 111 loci controlling various aspects of body size, weight and growth hormone levels. By comparing against other studies, including the use of a joint meta-analysis, we found that the loci involved in the evolution of large size in the Faroese mice were largely independent from those of a different island population or other laboratory strains. We hypothesize that colonization bottleneck, historical hybridization, or the redundancy between multiple loci have resulted in the Faroese mice achieving an outwardly similar phenotype through a distinct evolutionary path.

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