Molecular evolution tracks macroevolutionary transitions in Cetacea

McGowen, Michael R.; Gatesy, John; Wildman, Derek E.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2014.04.001

Cited by 112 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…However, given the evolutionarily recent radiation of cetaceans and because seabird and teleost fish radiation predate the presence of marine mammals in the ocean (McGowen et al, 2014;Pyenson et al, 2014), it is plausible that host-switching events occurred between parasites of marine mammals and other marine hosts. Results from the present study indicate that the digenean fauna of cetaceans was formed from at least four separate host-switching events, with only the Brachycladiidae and the genus Ogmogaster showing further radiation among cetacean hosts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Independent host switching events by digenean parasites of cetaceans inferred from ribosomal DNA

Fraija-Fernández

Olson

Crespo

et al. 2015

International Journal for Parasitology

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Independent host switching events by digenean parasites of cetaceans inferred from ribosomal DNA

Fraija-Fernández

Olson

Crespo

et al. 2015

International Journal for Parasitology

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“…The anaerobic, locomotory, pathogenic, salinity, sensory and thermal challenges of inhabiting the marine environment place intense selection pressure on the genomes of colonizing species 13,16 . The signature of this selection is observed in the shared phenotypic adaptations that have independently arisen through convergent evolution in highly divergent taxa; for example, fin-like limbs adapted for swimming have evolved independently in separate marine mammal lineages, which themselves have emerged from different terrestrial tetrapod ancestors 17,18 (FIG.…”

Section: Sirenianmentioning

confidence: 99%

The life aquatic: advances in marine vertebrate genomics

et al. 2016

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The ocean is hypothesized to be where life on earth originated, and subsequent evolutionary transitions between marine and terrestrial environments have been key events in the origin of contemporary biodiversity. Here, we review how comparative genomic approaches are an increasingly important aspect of understanding evolutionary processes, such as physiological and morphological adaptation to the diverse habitats within the marine environment. In addition, we highlight how population genomics has provided unprecedented resolution for population structuring, speciation and adaptation in marine environments, which can have a low cost of dispersal and few physical barriers to gene flow, and can thus support large populations. Building upon this work, we outline the applications of genomics tools to conservation and their relevance to assessing the wide-ranging impact of fisheries and climate change on marine species.

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“…For example, fossil cetaceans document hind limb loss and the transformation of the front limbs into flippers on the Cetacea stem, as well as the acquisition of unique innovations within crown Cetacea including echolocation in toothed whales (odontocetes) and revamping of the feeding apparatus in baleen whales (mysticetes) that involved tooth loss and the evolution of baleen (Gatesy et al, 2013;McGowen et al, 2014). Extant and fossil sirenian species are less diverse than their cetacean counterparts, but the sirenian fossil record nevertheless includes key transitional forms that document important macroevoutionary changes leading from prorastomids to protosirenids (Protosiren) to fully aquatic sirenians (Domning and Gingerich 1994;Domning 2000Domning , 2001 (Fig.…”

Section: Sirenian Macroevolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interordinal gene capture, the phylogenetic position of Steller’s sea cow based on molecular and morphological data, and the macroevolutionary history of Sirenia

Springer

Signore

Paijmans

et al. 2015

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

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The recently extinct (ca. 1768) Steller's sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) was a large, edentulous North Pacific sirenian. The phylogenetic affinities of this taxon to other members of this clade, living and extinct, are uncertain based on previous morphological and molecular studies. We employed hybridization capture methods and second generation sequencing technology to obtain >30kb of exon sequences from 26 nuclear genes for both H. gigas and Dugong dugon. We also obtained complete coding sequences for the tooth-related enamelin (ENAM) gene. Hybridization probes designed using dugong and manatee sequences were both highly effective in retrieving sequences from H. gigas (mean=98.8% coverage), as were more divergent probes for regions of ENAM (99.0% coverage) that were designed exclusively from a proboscidean (African elephant) and a hyracoid (Cape hyrax). New sequences were combined with available sequences for representatives of all other afrotherian orders. We also expanded a previously published morphological matrix for living and fossil Sirenia by adding both new taxa and nine new postcranial characters. Maximum likelihood and parsimony analyses of the molecular data provide robust support for an association of H. gigas and D. dugon to the exclusion of living trichechids (manatees). Parsimony analyses of the morphological data also support the inclusion of H. gigas in Dugongidae with D. dugon and fossil dugongids. Timetree analyses based on calibration density approaches with hard- and soft-bounded constraints suggest that H. gigas and D. dugon diverged in the Oligocene and that crown sirenians last shared a common ancestor in the Eocene. The coding sequence for the ENAM gene in H. gigas does not contain frameshift mutations or stop codons, but there is a transversion mutation (AG to CG) in the acceptor splice site of intron 2. This disruption in the edentulous Steller's sea cow is consistent with previous studies that have documented inactivating mutations in tooth-specific loci of a variety of edentulous and enamelless vertebrates including birds, turtles, aardvarks, pangolins, xenarthrans, and baleen whales. Further, branch-site dN/dS analyses provide evidence for positive selection in ENAM on the stem dugongid branch where extensive tooth reduction occurred, followed by neutral evolution on the Hydrodamalis branch. Finally, we present a synthetic evolutionary tree for living and fossil sirenians showing several key innovations in the history of this clade including character state changes that parallel those that occurred in the evolutionary history of cetaceans.

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Molecular evolution tracks macroevolutionary transitions in Cetacea

Cited by 112 publications

References 77 publications

Independent host switching events by digenean parasites of cetaceans inferred from ribosomal DNA

Independent host switching events by digenean parasites of cetaceans inferred from ribosomal DNA

The life aquatic: advances in marine vertebrate genomics

Interordinal gene capture, the phylogenetic position of Steller’s sea cow based on molecular and morphological data, and the macroevolutionary history of Sirenia

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