Measuring the evolution of body size in mammals

Polly, P. David

doi:10.1073/pnas.1201030109

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(16 reference statements)

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“…If working phylogenies of particular animal assemblages can be constructed, then there are several phylogenetically informed approaches that can be used to identify and test the validity of evolutionary trends (Laurin, , ). However, identifying evolutionary patterns and trends in mammalian body size is not straightforward because the phylogenetic relationships between fossil species are often poorly resolved (Alroy, , , ; Polly, ). Thus, statistical analyses of body mass estimates and time cannot assume data independence or variance homogeneity (Felsenstein, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of mammal body sizes: responses to Cenozoic climate change in North American mammals

Lovegrove

Mowoe

2013

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Explanations for the evolution of body size in mammals have remained surprisingly elusive despite the central importance of body size in evolutionary biology. Here, we present a model which argues that the body sizes of Nearctic mammals were moulded by Cenozoic climate and vegetation changes. Following the early Eocene Climate Optimum, forests retreated and gave way to open woodland and savannah landscapes, followed later by grasslands. Many herbivores that radiated in these new landscapes underwent a switch from browsing to grazing associated with increased unguligrade cursoriality and body size, the latter driven by the energetics and constraints of cellulose digestion (fermentation). Carnivores also increased in size and digitigrade, cursorial capacity to occupy a size distribution allowing the capture of prey of the widest range of body sizes. With the emergence of larger, faster carnivores, plantigrade mammals were constrained from evolving to large body sizes and most remained smaller than 1 kg throughout the middle Cenozoic. We find no consistent support for either Cope's Rule or Bergmann's Rule in plantigrade mammals, the largest locomotor guild (n = 1186, 59% of species in the database). Some cold-specialist plantigrade mammals, such as beavers and marmots, showed dramatic increases in body mass following the Miocene Climate Optimum which may, however, be partially explained by Bergmann's rule. This study reemphasizes the necessity of considering the evolutionary history and resultant form and function of mammalian morphotypes when attempting to understand contemporary mammalian body size distributions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of mammal body sizes: responses to Cenozoic climate change in North American mammals

Lovegrove

Mowoe

2013

J of Evolutionary Biology

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“…In nature, differences in body size and growth between and within species were driven by the adaptation to divergent environments (Roy, 2008). Over the last millions of years, the evolutionary rate of change in body size exhibits the bias in which favors towards small size (Roy, 2008;Polly, 2012). As one of the extreme consequences, dwarfism is a condition characterized by restricted growth.…”

Section: General Introduction 1introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small chicken, big story: detection of the genetic background of dwarfism in chicken using genomic analyses

Wu¹

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Wu. Z. (2020). Small chicken, big story: Detection of the genetic background of dwarfism in chicken using genomic analyses. PhD thesis, Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands.Body size of animals is a trait that has received a lot of interest and emphasis during domestication and breeding. The wide variation in size of domesticated animals is reflected in their genomes. An extreme size variation is dwarfism, a condition of unusually reduced growth caused by a variety of genetic components. In chicken, dwarfism is a complex trait studied and utilized for a long time. Because of the reduced body size, incorporating the dwarf trait into the breeding scheme can provide potential advantages and benefits. In this thesis, I focus on two types of dwarfism and analyze the genetic background of these dwarf phenotypes with respect to underlying genetic variants, gene expression, and population genomics. More specifically, I perform fine-mapping to detect the causative genetic variant underlying the autosomal dwarfism (adw) in chickens. Results demonstrate that a novel nonsense mutation in the TMEM263 gene is associated with the adw phenotype resulting in the premature termination of the open reading frame, and a truncation of the transmembrane protein.Moreover, I study the genetic basis of the bantam phenotype in Dutch traditional chicken breeds by using a variety of genomic analyses. Genome mapping and differential gene expression analysis identify novel candidate genes responsible for the bantam phenotype. The results further demonstrate the heterogeneity of this trait and the signaling pathways involved in growth. Furthermore, I focus on the admixed population structure of Dutch chicken breeds and show how human-mediated crossbreeding may influence the genomic landscape of a population in a complex manner. Collectively, I provide a comprehensive understanding of the genetic background of dwarf phenotypes in chicken, which not only can be utilized in poultry breeding but also provides a case study of utilizing multi-omics data to study the phenotype-genotype relation. Contents 1 General Introduction 9 2 A novel loss-of-function variant in transmembrane protein 263 (TMEM263) of autosomal dwarfism in chicken 29 3 Heterogeneity of a dwarf phenotype in Dutch traditional chicken breeds revealed by genomic analyses 47 4 Detection of differentially expressed genes in bantam chickens 75 5 Genomic insight into the influence of selection, geography, and crossbreeding on population structure 99 6 General Discussion Supplementary file Summary Acknowledgements Curriculum Vitae Colophon Islam, M. A. (2005). Sex-linked dwarf gene for broiler production in hot-humid climates. Asian-

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Phytoplankton size- and abundance-based resilience assessments reveal nutrient rather than water level effects

Baho

Drakare

Johnson

et al. 2020

Science of The Total Environment

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Measuring the evolution of body size in mammals

Cited by 4 publications

References 17 publications

The evolution of mammal body sizes: responses to Cenozoic climate change in North American mammals

The evolution of mammal body sizes: responses to Cenozoic climate change in North American mammals

Small chicken, big story: detection of the genetic background of dwarfism in chicken using genomic analyses

Phytoplankton size- and abundance-based resilience assessments reveal nutrient rather than water level effects

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