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Miller E, Lee HW, Abzhanov A, Evers SW. The topological organization of the turtle cranium is constrained and conserved over long evolutionary timescales. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2023. [PMID: 38102921 DOI: 10.1002/ar.25356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
The cranium of turtles (Testudines) is characterized by the secondary reduction of temporal fenestrae and loss of cranial joints (i.e., characteristics of anapsid, akinetic skulls). Evolution and ontogeny of the turtle cranium are associated with shape changes. Cranial shape variation among Testudines can partially be explained by dietary and functional adaptations (neck retraction), but it is unclear if cranial topology shows similar ecomorphological signal, or if it is decoupled from shape evolution. We assess the topological arrangement of cranial bones (i.e., number, relative positioning, connections), using anatomical network analysis. Non-shelled stem turtles have similar cranial arrangements to archosauromorph outgroups. Shelled turtles (Testudinata) evolve a unique cranial organization that is associated with bone losses (e.g., supratemporal, lacrimal, ectopterygoid) and an increase in complexity (i.e., densely and highly interconnected skulls with low path lengths between bones), resulting from the closure of skull openings and establishment of unusual connections such as a parietal-pterygoid contact in the secondary braincase. Topological changes evolutionarily predate many shape changes. Topological variation and taxonomic morphospace discrimination among crown turtles are low, indicating that cranial topology may be constrained. Observed variation results from repeated losses of nonintegral bones (i.e., premaxilla, nasal, epipterygoid, quadratojugal), and changes in temporal emarginations and palate construction. We observe only minor ontogenetic changes. Topology is not influenced by diet and habitat, contrasting cranial shape. Our results indicate that turtles have a unique cranial topology among reptiles that is conserved after its initial establishment, and shows that cranial topology and shape have different evolutionary histories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eve Miller
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Berkshire, UK
- Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | - Hiu Wai Lee
- Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Arkhat Abzhanov
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Berkshire, UK
- Natural History Museum, London, UK
| | - Serjoscha W Evers
- Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
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Tokita M, Watanabe T, Sato H, Kondo S, Kitayama C. A comparative study of cranial osteogenesis in turtles: implications for the diversification of skull morphology. ZOOMORPHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00435-021-00544-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
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Abstract
The origin of turtles and their uniquely shelled body plan is one of the longest standing problems in vertebrate biology. The unfulfilled need for a hypothesis that both explains the derived nature of turtle anatomy and resolves their unclear phylogenetic position among reptiles largely reflects the absence of a transitional fossil record. Recent discoveries have dramatically improved this situation, providing an integrated, time-calibrated model of the morphological, developmental, and ecological transformations responsible for the modern turtle body plan. This evolutionary trajectory was initiated in the Permian (>260 million years ago) when a turtle ancestor with a diapsid skull evolved a novel mechanism for lung ventilation. This key innovation permitted the torso to become apomorphically stiff, most likely as an adaption for digging and a fossorial ecology. The construction of the modern turtle body plan then proceeded over the next 100 million years following a largely stepwise model of osteological innovation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tyler R. Lyson
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, Colorado 80205, USA
| | - Gabriel S. Bever
- Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, Colorado 80205, USA
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA
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Alzugaray ME, Bruno MC, Villalobos Sambucaro MJ, Ronderos JR. The Evolutionary History of The Orexin/Allatotropin GPCR Family: from Placozoa and Cnidaria to Vertebrata. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10217. [PMID: 31308431 PMCID: PMC6629687 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-46712-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2018] [Accepted: 07/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Peptidic messengers constitute a highly diversified group of intercellular messengers widely distributed in nature that regulate a great number of physiological processes in Metazoa. Being crucial for life, it seem that they have appeared in the ancestral group from which Metazoa evolved, and were highly conserved along the evolutionary process. Peptides act mainly through G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), a family of transmembrane molecules. GPCRs are also widely distributed in nature being present in metazoan, but also in Choanoflagellata and Fungi. Among GPCRs, the Allatotropin/Orexin (AT/Ox) family is particularly characterized by the presence of the DRW motif in the second intracellular loop (IC Loop 2), and seems to be present in Cnidaria, Placozoa and in Bilateria, suggesting that it was present in the common ancestor of Metazoa. Looking for the evolutionary history of this GPCRs we searched for corresponding sequences in public databases. Our results suggest that AT/Ox receptors were highly conserved along evolutionary process, and that they are characterized by the presence of the E/DRWYAI motif at the IC Loop 2. Phylogenetic analyses show that AT/Ox family of receptors reflects evolutionary relationships that agree with current phylogenetic understanding in Actinopterygii and Sauropsida, including also the largely discussed position of Testudines.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Eugenia Alzugaray
- Cátedra de Histología y Embriología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP), La Plata, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - María Cecilia Bruno
- Cátedra de Histología y Embriología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP), La Plata, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - María José Villalobos Sambucaro
- Cátedra de Histología y Embriología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP), La Plata, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jorge Rafael Ronderos
- Cátedra de Histología y Embriología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (FCNyM-UNLP), La Plata, Argentina.
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Ishikawa N, Hirayama Y, Miake Y, Kitamura K, Kasahara N, Abe S, Yamamoto H. Comparison of the Morphological Structures of the Human Calvarium and Turtle Shell. J HARD TISSUE BIOL 2019. [DOI: 10.2485/jhtb.28.289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Noboru Ishikawa
- Department of Histology and Developmental Biology, Tokyo Dental College
| | - Yuzo Hirayama
- Department of Histology and Developmental Biology, Tokyo Dental College
| | - Yasuo Miake
- Department of Histology and Developmental Biology, Tokyo Dental College
| | - Kei Kitamura
- Department of Histology and Developmental Biology, Tokyo Dental College
| | - Norio Kasahara
- Department of Forensic Odontology and Anthropology, Tokyo Dental College
| | | | - Hitoshi Yamamoto
- Department of Histology and Developmental Biology, Tokyo Dental College
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Ferreira GS, Werneburg I. Evolution, Diversity, and Development of the Craniocervical System in Turtles with Special Reference to Jaw Musculature. Heads, Jaws, and Muscles 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-93560-7_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Bertin TJC, Thivichon-Prince B, LeBlanc ARH, Caldwell MW, Viriot L. Current Perspectives on Tooth Implantation, Attachment, and Replacement in Amniota. Front Physiol 2018; 9:1630. [PMID: 30519190 PMCID: PMC6258785 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Accepted: 10/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Teeth and dentitions contain many morphological characters which give them a particularly important weight in comparative anatomy, systematics, physiology and ecology. As teeth are organs that contain the hardest mineralized tissues vertebrates can produce, their fossil remains are abundant and the study of their anatomy in fossil specimens is of major importance in evolutionary biology. Comparative anatomy has long favored studies of dental characters rather than features associated with tooth attachment and implantation. Here we review a large part of the historical and modern work on the attachment, implantation and replacement of teeth in Amniota. We propose synthetic definitions or redefinitions of most commonly used terms, some of which have led to confusion and conflation of terminology. In particular, there has long been much conflation between dental implantation that strictly concerns the geometrical aspects of the tooth-bone interface, and the nature of the dental attachment, which mostly concerns the histological features occurring at this interface. A second aim of this work was to evaluate the diversity of tooth attachment, implantation and replacement in extant and extinct amniotes in order to derive hypothetical evolutionary trends in these different dental traits over time. Continuous dental replacement prevails within amniotes, replacement being drastically modified only in Mammalia and when dental implantation is acrodont. By comparison, dental implantation frequently and rapidly changes at various taxonomic scales and is often homoplastic. This contrasts with the conservatism in the identity of the tooth attachment tissues (cementum, periodontal ligament, and alveolar bone), which were already present in the earliest known amniotes. Because the study of dental attachment requires invasive histological investigations, this trait is least documented and therefore its evolutionary history is currently poorly understood. Finally, it is essential to go on collecting data from all groups of amniotes in order to better understand and consequently better define dental characters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas J. C. Bertin
- Team Evolution of Vertebrate Dentition, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Béatrice Thivichon-Prince
- Team Evolution of Vertebrate Dentition, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Faculte d’Odontologie, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Service d’Odontologie, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - Aaron R. H. LeBlanc
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Michael W. Caldwell
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Laurent Viriot
- Team Evolution of Vertebrate Dentition, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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Abstract
The cerebral cortex covers the rostral part of the brain and, in higher mammals and particularly humans, plays a key role in cognition and consciousness. It is populated with neuronal cell bodies distributed in radially organized layers. Understanding the common and lineage-specific molecular mechanisms that orchestrate cortical development and evolution are key issues in neurobiology. During evolution, the cortex appeared in stem amniotes and evolved divergently in two main branches of the phylogenetic tree: the synapsids (which led to present day mammals) and the diapsids (reptiles and birds). Comparative studies in organisms that belong to those two branches have identified some common principles of cortical development and organization that are possibly inherited from stem amniotes and regulated by similar molecular mechanisms. These comparisons have also highlighted certain essential features of mammalian cortices that are absent or different in diapsids and that probably evolved after the synapsid-diapsid divergence. Chief among these is the size and multi-laminar organization of the mammalian cortex, and the propensity to increase its area by folding. Here, I review recent data on cortical neurogenesis, neuronal migration and cortical layer formation and folding in this evolutionary perspective, and highlight important unanswered questions for future investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andre M Goffinet
- University of Louvain, Avenue Mounier, 73 Box B1.73.16, B1200 Brussels, Belgium
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Moustakas-Verho JE, Cebra-Thomas J, Gilbert SF. Patterning of the turtle shell. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2017; 45:124-131. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2017.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2016] [Revised: 03/06/2017] [Accepted: 03/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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