How the earliest mammals thrived alongside dinosaurs

Pickrell, John

doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03170-7

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Because psoroptid mites are closely related to the bodies of birds and mammals ( Proctor 2003 ), the second round of divergence (approximately 212 MYA, supplementary fig. S4, Supplementary Material online) was considered a result of the emergence of feathers and hair, especially when the origin of feathers was estimated to be ∼165–250 MYA ( Benton et al 2019 ) and mammals appeared at least 178 MYA ( Pickrell 2019 ). Because nonparasitic mites in the family Pyroglyphidae (including house dust mites) mainly live in the nests of birds and mammals ( Arlian 2009 ), we suggest that massive gene duplications enabled their reversal (approximately 145 MYA, supplementary fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Genomics Reveals Insights into the Divergent Evolution of Astigmatic Mites and Household Pest Adaptations

Xiong

Wan

Liu

et al. 2022

Molecular Biology and Evolution

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Highly diversified astigmatic mites comprise many medically important human household pests such as house dust mites causing approximately 1–2% of all allergic diseases globally; however, their evolutionary origin and diverse lifestyles including reversible parasitism have not been illustrated at the genomic level, which hampers allergy prevention and our exploration of these household pests. Using six high-quality assembled and annotated genomes, this study not only refuted the monophyly of mites and ticks, but also thoroughly explored the divergence of Acariformes and the diversification of astigmatic mites. In monophyletic Acariformes, Prostigmata known as notorious plant pests first evolved, and then rapidly evolving Astigmata diverged from soil oribatid mites. Within astigmatic mites, a wide range of gene families rapidly expanded via tandem gene duplications, including ionotropic glutamate receptors, triacylglycerol lipases, serine proteases and UDP glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs). Gene diversification after tandem duplications provides many genetic resources for adaptation to sensing environmental signals, digestion, and detoxification in rapidly changing household environments. Many gene decay events only occurred in the skin-burrowing parasitic mite Sarcoptes scabiei. Throughout the evolution of Acariformes, massive horizontal gene transfer events occurred in gene families such as UGTs and several important fungal cell wall lytic enzymes, which enable detoxification and digestive functions and provide perfect drug targets for pest control. This comparative study sheds light on the divergent evolution and quick adaptation to human household environments of astigmatic mites and provides insights into the genetic adaptations and even control of human household pests.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Genomics Reveals Insights into the Divergent Evolution of Astigmatic Mites and Household Pest Adaptations

Xiong

Wan

Liu

et al. 2022

Molecular Biology and Evolution

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“…Therefore, knowledge about lifespan evolution in mammals is still limited. Our mammalian ancestors, although diverse ( Pickrell 2019 ), were small ( O’Leary et al 2013 ), and probably short-lived creatures ( Berkel and Cacan 2021 ). The known long-term directional bias towards increasing size in mammals ( Baker et al 2015 ; Lyson et al 2019 ) could have driven a parallel trend towards increased lifespan, but there is only limited evidence in favor of that hypothesis ( Berkel and Cacan 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Analysis of Mammal Genomes Unveils Key Genomic Variability for Human Life Span

Farré

Molina

Barteri

et al. 2021

Molecular Biology and Evolution

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The enormous mammal’s lifespan variation is the result of each species' adaptations to their own biological trade-offs and ecological conditions. Comparative genomics have demonstrated that genomic factors underlying both, species lifespans and longevity of individuals, are in part shared across the tree of life. Here, we compared protein-coding regions across the mammalian phylogeny to detect individual amino-acid (AA) changes shared by the most long-lived mammals and genes whose rates of protein evolution correlate with longevity. We discovered a total of 2,737 AA in 2,004 genes that distinguish long- and short-lived mammals, significantly more than expected by chance (p = 0.003). These genes belong to pathways involved in regulating lifespan, such as inflammatory response and hemostasis. Among them, a total 1,157 AA showed a significant association with maximum lifespan in a phylogenetic test. Interestingly, most of the detected AA positions do not vary in extant human populations (81.2%) or have allele frequencies below 1% (99.78%). Consequently, almost none of these putatively important variants could have been detected by Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). Additionally, we identified four more genes whose rate of protein evolution correlated with longevity in mammals. Crucially, SNPs located in the detected genes explain a larger fraction of human lifespan heritability than expected, successfully demonstrating for the first time that comparative genomics can be used to enhance interpretation of human GWAS. Finally, we show that the human longevity-associated proteins are significantly more stable than the orthologous proteins from short-lived mammals, strongly suggesting that general protein stability is linked to increased lifespan.

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“…Figure S1 ). This indicates that all nine aGPCR families were already introduced in the vertebrate genome before mammals arose more than 178 million years ago (mya) [ 28 ]. We did not find aGPCRs in mammals that cluster independently of the known families and form an additional family.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolutionary History of Vertebrate Adhesion GPCRs and Its Implication on Their Classification

Wittlake

Prömel

Schöneberg

2021

IJMS

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Adhesion G protein-coupled receptors (aGPCRs) form a structurally separate class of GPCRs with an unresolved evolutionary history and classification. Based on phylogenetic relations of human aGPCRs, nine families (A–G, L, V) were distinguished. Taking advantage of available genome data, we determined the aGPCR repertoires in all vertebrate classes. Although most aGPCR families show a high numerical stability in vertebrate genomes, the full repertoire of family E, F, and G members appeared only after the fish–tetrapod split. We did not find any evidence for new aGPCR families in vertebrates which are not present in the human genome. Based on ortholog sequence alignments, selection analysis clearly indicated two types of tetrapod aGPCRs: (i) aGPCR under strong purifying selection in tetrapod evolution (families A, B, D, L, V); and (ii) aGPCR with signatures of positive selection in some tetrapod linages (families C, E, G, F). The alignments of aGPCRs also allowed for a revised definition of reference positions within the seven-transmembrane-helix domain (relative position numbering scheme). Based on our phylogenetic cluster analysis, we suggest a revised nomenclature of aGPCRs including their transcript variants. Herein, the former families E and L are combined to one family (L) and GPR128/ADGRG7 forms a separate family (E). Furthermore, our analyses provide valuable information about the (patho)physiological relevance of individual aGPCR members.

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How the earliest mammals thrived alongside dinosaurs

Abstract: This rat-sized Liaoconodon hui is one of many fossils from northern China that are sharpening the picture of how mammal traits evolved.

Cited by 11 publications

References 14 publications

Comparative Genomics Reveals Insights into the Divergent Evolution of Astigmatic Mites and Household Pest Adaptations

Comparative Genomics Reveals Insights into the Divergent Evolution of Astigmatic Mites and Household Pest Adaptations

Comparative Analysis of Mammal Genomes Unveils Key Genomic Variability for Human Life Span

The Evolutionary History of Vertebrate Adhesion GPCRs and Its Implication on Their Classification

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