Chitinase genes (
            <i>CHIA</i>
            s) provide genomic footprints of a post-Cretaceous dietary radiation in placental mammals

Emerling, Christopher A.; Delsuc, Frédéric; Nachman, Michael W.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aar6478

Cited by 56 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 72 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…Previous work has reported some degree of convergence in the gut microbiomes of insectivorous mammals (20). Genomic analysis of insectivorous mammals also indicates convergent retention of functional chitinase genes expected to play a role in digesting the exoskeletons of their prey, potentially indicating a shift in reliance away from microbial and toward host function (41). If this is the case, the major shifts in host specificity we observe along independent branches on the vertebrate phylogeny in our data set could potentially be used to identify parallel changes in host genes mediating gut microbiome diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Comparative Analyses of Vertebrate Gut Microbiomes Reveal Convergence between Birds and Bats

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Delsuc

et al. 2020

mBio

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Diet and host phylogeny drive the taxonomic and functional contents of the gut microbiome in mammals, yet it is unknown whether these patterns hold across all vertebrate lineages. Here, we assessed gut microbiomes from ∼900 vertebrate species, including 315 mammals and 491 birds, assessing contributions of diet, phylogeny, and physiology to structuring gut microbiomes. In most nonflying mammals, strong correlations exist between microbial community similarity, host diet, and host phylogenetic distance up to the host order level. In birds, by contrast, gut microbiomes are only very weakly correlated to diet or host phylogeny. Furthermore, while most microbes resident in mammalian guts are present in only a restricted taxonomic range of hosts, most microbes recovered from birds show little evidence of host specificity. Notably, among the mammals, bats host especially bird-like gut microbiomes, with little evidence for correlation to host diet or phylogeny. This suggests that host-gut microbiome phylosymbiosis depends on factors convergently absent in birds and bats, potentially associated with physiological adaptations to flight. Our findings expose major variations in the behavior of these important symbioses in endothermic vertebrates and may signal fundamental evolutionary shifts in the cost/benefit framework of the gut microbiome. IMPORTANCE In this comprehensive survey of microbiomes of >900 species, including 315 mammals and 491 birds, we find a striking convergence of the microbiomes of birds and animals that fly. In nonflying mammals, diet and short-term evolutionary relatedness drive the microbiome, and many microbial species are specific to a particular kind of mammal, but flying mammals and birds break this pattern with many microbes shared across different species, with little correlation either with diet or with relatedness of the hosts. This finding suggests that adaptation to flight breaks long-held relationships between hosts and their microbes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Comparative Analyses of Vertebrate Gut Microbiomes Reveal Convergence between Birds and Bats

Song

Sanders

Delsuc

et al. 2020

mBio

Self Cite

264

346

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Alternatively, small pieces of invertebrate exoskeletons may have been more frequently detected in oven dried scats than in stomach contents. Cats do not have the ability to digest chitin (Emerling, Delsuc & Nachman, ), which could result in higher detection of exoskeletons in scats after soft tissues of mammals, lizards, and birds have been digested. Invertebrates may have also been present in scats as secondary prey (Trites & Joy, ), only appearing after full digestion of rodents, lizards, or birds that consumed invertebrates.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precipitation and prey abundance influence food habits of an invasive carnivore

Parsons¹,

Bridges²,

Biteman³

et al. 2019

Animal Conservation

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Invasive predators threaten biodiversity worldwide, and generalist invasive predators are often more successful due to their broad diets. Predation patterns can be influenced by prey abundance, prey preference, and climate, and understanding these relationships is integral to conserving native prey species. We examined stomach contents of 2882 feral cats Felis catus from San Clemente Island, California, to assess how their diets varied annually and seasonally, and how precipitation and prey abundance influenced predation patterns. Rodents were found in 95% (n = 2589) of stomachs containing prey. The endemic San Clemente deer mouse Peromyscus maniculatus clementis was the most prevalent prey species and was found in 85% (n = 2589) of stomachs containing prey. Consumption of rodents, lizards, and birds varied annually. In years following dry winters, consumption of rodents decreased and consumption of lizards increased. This had a particularly strong effect on endemic night lizards Xantusia riversiana reticulata with 20.4% (n = 1952) of non-empty cat stomachs containing night lizards following normal years, and 43.7% (n = 602) following dry years. Consumption of rodents peaked in fall, while consumption of lizards and birds peaked in spring. Using rodenticide removed from bait stations as an index of rodent abundance, we found a positive correlation between bait removal and the number of rodents consumed by cats, and a negative correlation between bait removal and the number of lizards consumed by cats. These results suggest that feral cats use rodents as primary prey and lizards as secondary prey, particularly during droughts when rodent abundance is low. Understanding how weather patterns affect invasive species predation patterns will help conservation biologists predict and manage for the effects of invasive species as climate change continues. Furthermore, identifying and quantifying diet pattern seasonality can help managers identify times when sensitive species are vulnerable and plan interventions accordingly.Animal Conservation 23 (2020) 60-71 ª

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“…Biases introduced from differing patterns of evolution within preserved and absent data partitions are important factors that warrant further investigation to add nuance to our interpretations here. Identifying patterns in the evolution of ecologically meaningful genes, such as the recent identification of parallel evolution of chitinase genes near the K-Pg boundary [67] will be particularly fruitful in this regard.…”

Section: (A) Possible Confounding Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid morphological evolution in placental mammals post-dates the origin of the crown group

et al. 2019

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Resolving the timing and pattern of early placental mammal evolution has been confounded by conflict among divergence date estimates from interpretation of the fossil record and from molecular-clock dating studies. Despite both fossil occurrences and molecular sequences favouring a Cretaceous origin for Placentalia, no unambiguous Cretaceous placental mammal has been discovered. Investigating the differing patterns of evolution in morphological and molecular data reveals a possible explanation for this conflict. Here, we quantified the relationship between morphological and molecular rates of evolution. We show that, independent of divergence dates, morphological rates of evolution were slow relative to molecular evolution during the initial divergence of Placentalia, but substantially increased during the origination of the extant orders. The rapid radiation of placentals into a highly morphologically disparate Cenozoic fauna is thus not associated with the origin of Placentalia, but post-dates superordinal origins. These findings predict that early members of major placental groups may not be easily distinguishable from one another or from stem eutherians on the basis of skeleto-dental morphology. This result supports a Late Cretaceous origin of crown placentals with an ordinal-level adaptive radiation in the early Paleocene, with the high relative rate permitting rapid anatomical change without requiring unreasonably fast molecular evolutionary rates. The lack of definitive Cretaceous placental mammals may be a result of morphological similarity among stem and early crown eutherians, providing an avenue for reconciling the fossil record with molecular divergence estimates for Placentalia.

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Chitinase genes ( CHIA s) provide genomic footprints of a post-Cretaceous dietary radiation in placental mammals

Abstract: Mammal genomes retain remnants of chitinase genes, pointing to dietary shifts in the wake of the K/Pg mass extinction.

Cited by 56 publications

References 72 publications

Comparative Analyses of Vertebrate Gut Microbiomes Reveal Convergence between Birds and Bats

Comparative Analyses of Vertebrate Gut Microbiomes Reveal Convergence between Birds and Bats

Precipitation and prey abundance influence food habits of an invasive carnivore

Rapid morphological evolution in placental mammals post-dates the origin of the crown group

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