Subsequent to the two rounds of whole-genome duplication that occurred in the common ancestor of vertebrates, a third genome duplication occurred in the stem lineage of teleost fishes. This teleost-specific genome duplication (TGD) is thought to have provided genetic raw materials for the physiological, morphological, and behavioral diversification of this highly speciose group. The extreme physiological versatility of teleost fish is manifest in their diversity of blood–gas transport traits, which reflects the myriad solutions that have evolved to maintain tissue O2 delivery in the face of changing metabolic demands and environmental O2 availability during different ontogenetic stages. During the course of development, regulatory changes in blood–O2 transport are mediated by the expression of multiple, functionally distinct hemoglobin (Hb) isoforms that meet the particular O2-transport challenges encountered by the developing embryo or fetus (in viviparous or oviparous species) and in free-swimming larvae and adults. The main objective of the present study was to assess the relative contributions of whole-genome duplication, large-scale segmental duplication, and small-scale gene duplication in producing the extraordinary functional diversity of teleost Hbs. To accomplish this, we integrated phylogenetic reconstructions with analyses of conserved synteny to characterize the genomic organization and evolutionary history of the globin gene clusters of teleosts. These results were then integrated with available experimental data on functional properties and developmental patterns of stage-specific gene expression. Our results indicate that multiple α- and β-globin genes were present in the common ancestor of gars (order Lepisoteiformes) and teleosts. The comparative genomic analysis revealed that teleosts possess a dual set of TGD-derived globin gene clusters, each of which has undergone lineage-specific changes in gene content via repeated duplication and deletion events. Phylogenetic reconstructions revealed that paralogous genes convergently evolved similar functional properties in different teleost lineages. Consistent with other recent studies of globin gene family evolution in vertebrates, our results revealed evidence for repeated evolutionary transitions in the developmental regulation of Hb synthesis.

Penguins are the only extant family of flightless diving birds. They currently comprise at least 18 species, distributed from polar to tropical environments in the Southern Hemisphere. The history of their diversification and adaptation to these diverse environments remains controversial. We used 22 new genomes from 18 penguin species to reconstruct the order, timing, and location of their diversification, to track changes in their thermal niches through time, and to test for associated adaptation across the genome. Our results indicate that the penguin crown-group originated during the Miocene in New Zealand and Australia, not in Antarctica as previously thought, and that Aptenodytes is the sister group to all other extant penguin species. We show that lineage diversification in penguins was largely driven by changing climatic conditions and by the opening of the Drake Passage and associated intensification of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Penguin species have introgressed throughout much of their evolutionary history, following the direction of the ACC, which might have promoted dispersal and admixture. Changes in thermal niches were accompanied by adaptations in genes that govern thermoregulation and oxygen metabolism. Estimates of ancestral effective population sizes (Ne) confirm that penguins are sensitive to climate shifts, as represented by three different demographic trajectories in deeper time, the most common (in 11 of 18 penguin species) being an increased Ne between 40 and 70 kya, followed by a precipitous decline during the Last Glacial Maximum. The latter effect is most likely a consequence of the overall decline in marine productivity following the last glaciation.

1. Since 2000, an increasing number of humpback whale sightings have been recorded in northern Chilean Patagonia (mostly between 41.5 S and 44 S) from dedicated aerial and marine surveys and also opportunistic and land-based platforms during austral summer and autumn months.2. Based on local knowledge from the early years of coastal whaling suggesting the historic presence of humpback whales in the area, and more recent observations confirming feeding groups, mother-calf pairs, and philopatry, it is proposed that a proportion of the eastern South Pacific humpback whales consistently use the Chiloe-Corcovado region to feed and nurse their young.3. This mid-latitude area could be regarded as the northernmost feeding ground for humpback whales in South America, extending the previous known range some 1300 km north.4. These findings provide further evidence for alternative life-strategies other than traditional migration and highlight the importance of northern Patagonian fjords to resolve questions that are central for large baleen whale conservation and management such as the extent and characteristics of spatio-temporal habitat use and overlap with human activities.5. The need for future research on the migratory movements and population structure of this poorly understood population of humpback whales is emphasized, while an account is given of the threats they currently face.

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Cetaceans are unique in being the only mammals completely adapted to an aquatic environment. This adaptation has required complex changes and sometimes a complete restructuring of physiology, behavior and morphology. Identifying genes that have been subjected to selection pressure during cetacean evolution would greatly enhance our knowledge of the ways in which genetic variation in this mammalian order has been shaped by natural selection. Here, we performed a genome-wide scan for positive selection in the dolphin lineage. We employed models of codon substitution that account for variation of selective pressure over branches on the tree and across sites in a sequence. We analyzed 7,859 nuclear-coding ortholog genes and using a series of likelihood ratio tests (LRTs), we identified 376 genes (4.8%) with molecular signatures of positive selection in the dolphin lineage. We used the cow as the sister group and compared estimates of selection in the cetacean genome to this using the same methods. This allowed us to define which genes have been exclusively under positive selection in the dolphin lineage. The enrichment analysis found that the identified positively selected genes are significantly over-represented for three exclusive functional categories only in the dolphin lineage: segment specification, mesoderm development and system development. Of particular interest for cetacean adaptation to an aquatic life are the following GeneOntology targets under positive selection: genes related to kidney, heart, lung, eye, ear and nervous system development.

BackgroundHair represents an evolutionary innovation that appeared early on mammalian evolutionary history, and presumably contributed significantly to the rapid radiation of the group. An interesting event in hair evolution has been its secondary loss in some mammalian groups, such as cetaceans, whose hairless phenotype appears to be an adaptive response to better meet the environmental conditions. To determine whether different repertoire of keratin genes among mammals can potentially explain the phenotypic hair features of different lineages, we characterized the type I and II clusters of alpha keratins from eight mammalian species, including the hairless dolphin and minke whale representing the order Cetacea.ResultsWe combined the available genomic information with phylogenetic analysis to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the evolutionary patterns of keratin gene clusters. We found that both type I and II gene clusters are fairly conserved among the terrestrial mammals included in this study, with lineage specific gene duplication and gene loss. Nevertheless, there is also evidence for an increased rate of pseudogenization in the cetacean lineage when compared to their terrestrial relatives, especially among the hair type keratins.ConclusionsHere we present a comprehensive characterization of alpha-keratin genes among mammals and elucidate the mechanisms involved in the evolution of this gene family. We identified lineage-specific gene duplications and gene loss among the Laurasiatherian and Euarchontoglires species included in the study. Interestingly, cetaceans present an increased loss of hair-type keratin genes when compared to other terrestrial mammals. As suggested by the ‘less-is-more’ hypothesis, we do not rule out the possibility that the gene loss of hair-type keratin genes in these species might be associated to the hairless phenotype and could have been adaptive in response to new selective pressures imposed by the colonization of a new habitat. Our study provides support for the idea that pseudogenes are not simply ‘genomic fossils’ but instead have adaptive roles during the evolutionary process.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-869) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Cetaceans, early in their evolutionary history, had developed many physiological adaptations to secondarily return to the sea. Among these adaptations, changes in molecules that transport oxygen and that ultimately support large periods of acute tissue hypoxia probably represent one big step toward the conquest of aquatic environments. Myoglobin contributes to intracellular oxygen storage and transcellular diffusion of oxygen in muscle, and plays an important role in supplying oxygen in hypoxic or ischemic conditions. Here we looked for evidence of adaptive molecular evolution of myoglobin in the cetacean lineage, relative to their terrestrial counterparts. We performed a comparative analysis to examine the variation of the parameter ω (d N/d S) and infer past period of adaptive evolution during the cetacean transition from the terrestrial to the aquatic environment. We also analyzed the changes in amino acid properties. At the nucleotide level, the results showed significant differences in selective pressure between cetacean and non-cetacean myoglobin (ω value three times higher in cetaceans when compared to terrestrial mammals), and also among cetacean lineages according to their diving capacities. Interestingly, both families with long duration diving cetaceans present two parallel substitutions (on sites 4 and 12). Regarding the amino acid properties, our analysis identified four significant physicochemical amino acid changes among residues in myoglobin protein under positive destabilizing selection.