Reptiles (sauropsids) represent the sister group to mammals, and the basal members of Reptilia may provide a good model for the condition of the common ancestor of both groups. Sex-determining mechanisms (SDM) and organizations of sex chromosomes among genotypically sex-determining (GSD) species vary widely across reptiles. Birds and snakes, for example, are entirely GSD whereas other reptiles, like all crocodilians, exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). Here we explore the evolution of sex chromosomes and SDM within reptiles, using family-level analyses of character evolution and applying parsimony, likelihood, Bayesian, and stochastic methods. We find support for the common ancestor of amphisbaenians and whiptail lizards (Laterata) possessing the XY (male heterogametic) GSD mechanism, while the ancestors of Testudines and Crocodylia, as well as the larger group Archosauromorpha (here containing turtles) are inferred to have exhibited TSD. We also find evidence consistent with the hypothesis that the XY system is more labile and evolves faster than does the ZW (female heterogametic) system. Phylogenetic-based speciation tests do not support an association between GSD and speciation, and reject the hypothesis that the presence of the XY system is associated with speciation in reptiles.
The genomes of birds and nonavian reptiles (Reptilia) are critical for understanding genome evolution in mammals and amniotes generally. Despite decades of study at the chromosomal and single-gene levels, and the evidence for great diversity in genome size, karyotype, and sex chromosome diversity, reptile genomes are virtually unknown in the comparative genomics era. The recent sequencing of the chicken and zebra finch genomes, in conjunction with genome scans and the online publication of the Anolis lizard genome, has begun to clarify the events leading from an ancestral amniote genome--predicted to be large and to possess a diverse repeat landscape on par with mammals and a birdlike sex chromosome system--to the small and highly streamlined genomes of birds. Reptilia exhibit a wide range of evolutionary rates of different subgenomes and, from isochores to mitochondrial DNA, provide a critical contrast to the genomic paradigms established in mammals.
Crocodylians possess the same thoracic epaxial muscles as most other saurians, but M. transversospinalis is modified by overlying osteoderms. Compared with crocodylians, the thoracic epaxial muscles of birds are reduced in size, disrupted by the synsacrum, and often modified by intratendinous ossification and the notarium. A phylogenetic perspective is used to determine muscle homologies in living archosaurs (birds and crocodylians), evaluate how the apparent disparity evolved, and reconstruct the thoracic epaxial muscles in ornithopod dinosaurs. The avian modifications of the epaxial musculoskeletal system appear to have coevolved with the synsacrum and notarium. The lattice of ossified tendons in iguanodontoidean dinosaurs (Hadrosauridae and Iguanodontidae) is homologized to M. transversospinalis in crocodylians and M. longus colli dorsalis, pars thoracica in birds. Birds have an arrangement of tendons within M. longus colli dorsalis, pars thoracica identical to that observed in the epaxial ossified tendons of iguanodontoid dinosaurs. Moreover, many birds (such as grebes and turkeys) ossify these tendons, resulting in a two-or three-layered lattice of ossified tendons, a morphology also seen in iguanodontoid dinosaurs. Although the structure of M. transversospinalis appears indistinguishable between birds and iguanodontoid dinosaurs, intratendinous ossification within this epaxial muscle evolved convergently. Anat Rec Part A, 288A: 782-793, 2006.
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