Stochastic Mapping of Morphological Characters

Huelsenbeck, John P.; Nielsen, Rasmus; Bollback, Jonathan P.

doi:10.1080/10635150309342

Cited by 289 publications

(375 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Bayesian ancestral state reconstructions were undertaken in SIMMAP v1.5.2 using stochastic mutational mapping under the ancestral states criterion to predict the posterior probability of the state of a character at each ancestral node in the tree 20,43 . This method accounts for phylogenetic uncertainty in the gene tree by sampling tree topologies, branch lengths, model parameters and character histories.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic evolution of venom proteins in squamate reptiles

2012

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Phylogenetic analyses of toxin gene families have revolutionised our understanding of the origin and evolution of reptile venoms, leading to the current hypothesis that venom evolved once in squamate reptiles. However, because of a lack of homologous squamate non-toxin sequences, these conclusions rely on the implicit assumption that recruitments of protein families into venom are both rare and irreversible. Here we use sequences of homologous non-toxin proteins from two snake species to test these assumptions. Phylogenetic and ancestral-state analyses revealed frequent nesting of 'physiological' proteins within venom toxin clades, suggesting early ancestral recruitment into venom followed by reverse recruitment of toxins back to physiological roles. These results provide evidence that protein recruitment into venoms from physiological functions is not a one-way process, but dynamic, with reversal of function and/or co-expression of toxins in different tissues. This requires a major reassessment of our previous understanding of how animal venoms evolve.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic evolution of venom proteins in squamate reptiles

2012

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“…Given assigned states in elopomorph species, we used stochastic character mapping 64 to reconstruct ancestral feeding mode on each of the 1,000 pruned trees sampled from our phylogenetic analysis (see Supplementary Fig. 1).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biting disrupts integration to spur skull evolution in eels

et al. 2014

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The demand that anatomical structures work together to perform biological functions is thought to impose strong limits on morphological evolution. Breakthroughs in diversification can occur, however, when functional integration among structures is relaxed. Although such transitions are expected to generate variation in morphological diversification across the tree of life, empirical tests of this hypothesis are rare. Here we show that transitions between suction-based and biting modes of prey capture, which require different degrees of coordination among skull components, are associated with shifts in the pattern of skull diversification in eels (Anguilliformes). Biting eels have experienced greater independence of the jaws, hyoid and operculum during evolution and exhibit more varied morphologies than closely related suction feeders, and this pattern reflects the weakened functional integration among skull components required for biting. Our results suggest that behavioural transitions can change the evolutionary potential of the vertebrate skeleton by altering functional relationships among structures.

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“…52). The advantage of the Bayesian approach over parsimony and ML mapping is that uncertainty in parameters can be accommodated by using MCMC samples from their respective posterior distributions 56 . We accepted default prior values for the transition bias (β, uninformative, α = 1.0), γ and MCMC sampling parameters.…”

Section: Comparative Hypothesis Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flammable biomes dominated by eucalypts originated at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary

et al. 2011

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Fire is a major modifier of communities, but the evolutionary origins of its prevalent role in shaping current biomes are uncertain. Australia is among the most fire-prone continents, with most of the landmass occupied by the fire-dependent sclerophyll and savanna biomes. In contrast to biomes with similar climates in other continents, Australia has a tree flora dominated by a single genus, Eucalyptus, and related myrtaceae. A unique mechanism in myrtaceae for enduring and recovering from fire damage likely resulted in this dominance. Here, we find a conserved phylogenetic relationship between post-fire resprouting (epicormic) anatomy and biome evolution, dating from 60 to 62 ma, in the earliest Palaeogene. Thus, fire-dependent communities likely existed 50 million years earlier than previously thought. We predict that epicormic resprouting could make eucalypt forests and woodlands an excellent long-term carbon bank for reducing atmospheric Co 2 compared with biomes with similar fire regimes in other continents.

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Stochastic Mapping of Morphological Characters

Cited by 289 publications

References 18 publications

Dynamic evolution of venom proteins in squamate reptiles

Dynamic evolution of venom proteins in squamate reptiles

Biting disrupts integration to spur skull evolution in eels

Flammable biomes dominated by eucalypts originated at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary

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