Evolutionary developmental biology articles within Nature

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  • Article |

    The adrenal gland of the oldfield mouse (Peromyscus polionotus) has a recently evolved cell type that promotes monogamous-typical parenting behaviour and is not present in closely related species.

    • Natalie Niepoth
    • , Jennifer R. Merritt
    •  & Andres Bendesky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Patagia—the mammalian gliding membrane—repeatedly originated through a process of convergent genomic evolution, whereby the regulation of Emx2 was altered by distinct cis-regulatory elements in independently evolved species.

    • Jorge A. Moreno
    • , Olga Dudchenko
    •  & Ricardo Mallarino

  • Article |

    Challenging the belief that sympathetic ganglia are an innovation of jawed vertebrates, a study reports the presence of sympathetic neurons in an extant jawless vertebrate, the sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus.

    • Brittany M. Edens
    • , Jan Stundl
    •  & Marianne E. Bronner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    An insertion of an Alu element into an intron of the TBXT gene is identified as a genetic mechanism of tail-loss evolution in humans and apes, with implications for human health today.

    • Bo Xia
    • , Weimin Zhang
    •  & Itai Yanai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Single-nucleus RNA-sequencing data from the cerebellum of human, mouse and opossum is used to analyse the developmental dynamics of cell types and states in mammalian cerebellum and provide evolutionary insights.

    • Mari Sepp
    • , Kevin Leiss
    •  & Henrik Kaessmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A non-genetic mechanism of sex determination in the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is described, and the male development 1 gene is identified as a potential target for interventions that block malaria transmission.

    • A. R. Gomes
    • , A. Marin-Menendez
    •  & A. M. Talman

  • Article |

    Articulated remains of Tujiaaspis vividus reveal that galeaspids—extinct jawless vertebrates—had precursors to paired pectoral fins that consisted of paired, continuous pectoral–pelvic lateral fins that passively generated lift.

    • Zhikun Gai
    • , Qiang Li
    •  & Min Zhu

  • Article |

    Using palaeohistology and geochemistry, the placental-like life history of a pantodont species 62 million years of age is determined.

    • Gregory F. Funston
    • , Paige E. dePolo
    •  & Stephen L. Brusatte

  • Article |

    Detailed structural analysis of Palaeospondylus gunni from the Middle Devonian period shows strong resemblance to Eusthenopteron and Panderichthys, indicating that it was a sarcopterygian and most probably a stem-tetrapod.

    • Tatsuya Hirasawa
    • , Yuzhi Hu
    •  & Shigeru Kuratani

  • Article |

    In the tunicate Ciona intestinalis, the homeobox transcription factor Hmx drives differentiation of bipolar tail neurons, indicating conserved regulation and function, and homology with cranial sensory ganglia in higher vertebrates.

    • Vasileios Papadogiannis
    • , Alessandro Pennati
    •  & Sebastian M. Shimeld

  • Article |

    A fossil of the Middle Jurassic haramiyidan Vilevolodon diplomylos with a well-preserved malleus, incus and ectotympanic sheds light on the evolutionary transition from a dual to a single function for the ossicles in mammals.

    • Junyou Wang
    • , John R. Wible
    •  & Shundong Bi

  • Article |

    A robotic pipeline is used to survey a library of mutations in a Drosphila gene enhancer, showing that most mutations altered gene expression and had widespread pleiotropic effects that are likely to constrain regulatory evolution.

    • Timothy Fuqua
    • , Jeff Jordan
    •  & Justin Crocker

  • Article |

    CRISPR–Cas9-mediated disruption of the endothelin-signalling pathway in the sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus and the frog Xenopus laevis were used to delineate ancient and lineage-specific roles of endothelin signalling and provide insights into vertebrate evolution.

    • Tyler A. Square
    • , David Jandzik
    •  & Daniel M. Medeiros

  • Article |

    Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis of embryogenesis and X chromosome inactivation in the opossum (Monodelphis domestica) resolves the developmental trajectory of a marsupial, and sheds light on the evolution of embryogenesis in mammals.

    • Shantha K. Mahadevaiah
    • , Mahesh N. Sangrithi
    •  & James M. A. Turner

  • Article |

    Comprehensive single-cell transcriptomes in the proto-vertebrate Ciona intestinalis identified provisional gene networks for 41 different neural subtypes, providing insights into the swimming circuit of tadpoles and the evolution of the vertebrate telencephalon.

    • Chen Cao
    • , Laurence A. Lemaire
    •  & Kai Chen

  • Article |

    Analyses of insect eggs as well as genetic and life-history traits of insects show that where eggs are laid, rather than universal allometric constants, developmental rate or adult body size, underlies size and shape evolution.

    • Samuel H. Church
    • , Seth Donoughe
    •  & Cassandra G. Extavour

  • Article |

    A transcriptome dataset from seven organs and seven mammalian species throughout development is used to analyse the expression of long noncoding RNAs in tissues within and between species, and at different stages of organ development.

    • Ioannis Sarropoulos
    • , Ray Marin
    •  & Henrik Kaessmann

  • Article |

    The transcriptomes of seven major organs across developmental stages from several mammalian species are used for comparative analyses of gene expression and evolution across organ development.

    • Margarida Cardoso-Moreira
    • , Jean Halbert
    •  & Henrik Kaessmann

  • Letter |

    Comparison of transcriptomes, cell fates and behaviour of three primary cell types from the sponge Amphimedon queenslandica with choanoflagellates and other unicellular holozoans suggests that the first animal cells transitioned between multiple states.

    • Shunsuke Sogabe
    • , William L. Hatleberg
    •  & Bernard M. Degnan

  • Letter |

    Meristems of the rooting axes of Asteroxylon mackiei preserved in 407-million-year-old Rhynie chert lack root caps, which demonstrates that the evolution of the root systems of modern vascular plants occurred in a stepwise fashion.

    • Alexander J. Hetherington
    •  & Liam Dolan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sequencing and assembly of the 32-Gb genome of the Mexican axolotl reveals that it lacks the developmental gene Pax3, which is essential in other vertebrates; the genome sequence could improve our understanding of the evolution of the axolotl’s remarkable regenerative capabilities.

    • Sergej Nowoshilow
    • , Siegfried Schloissnig
    •  & Eugene W. Myers

  • Article |

    In bilaterian animals, the final configurations of central nervous systems seem unrelated to neuroectodermal patterning systems, so it is likely that the various architectures of the ventral nerve cords evolved convergently, many times.

    • José M. Martín-Durán
    • , Kevin Pang
    •  & Andreas Hejnol

  • Letter |

    In contrast to the prevailing belief that the gut begins with the mouth and continues backwards from there, this work shows that substantial areas of the faces of ray-finned fishes originate from the pre-oral gut or endoderm.

    • Martin Minarik
    • , Jan Stundl
    •  & Robert Cerny

  • Letter |

    Tokummia katalepsis from the Burgess Shale had a pair of mandibles and maxilliped claws, showing that large bivalved arthropods from the Cambrian period are forerunners of myriapods and pancrustaceans, thereby providing a basis for the origin of the hyperdiverse mandibulate body plan.

    • Cédric Aria
    •  & Jean-Bernard Caron

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the genome sequence of the tiger tail seahorse is reported and comparative genomic analyses with other ray-finned fishes are used to explore the genetic basis of the unique morphology and reproductive system of the seahorse.

    • Qiang Lin
    • , Shaohua Fan
    •  & Byrappa Venkatesh

  • Article |

    Alx3-induced modulation of Mitf expression alters melanocyte differentiation and gives rise to the hair colour differences underlying the repeated evolution of dorsal stripes in rodents.

    • Ricardo Mallarino
    • , Corneliu Henegar
    •  & Hopi E. Hoekstra

  • Article |

    The extinct Andreolepis, an early fish that is close to the common ancestor of all bony fish and land vertebrates, shed its teeth by basal resportion—the earliest example of this mode of tooth replacement.

    • Donglei Chen
    • , Henning Blom
    •  & Per E. Ahlberg

  • Letter |

    The mutually exclusive expression of the Hoxa11 and Hoxa13 genes is required for pentadactyl (five-digit) limbs and is proposed to have contributed to the transition from several digits polydactyl (several-digit) limbs in the earliest tetrapods.

    • Yacine Kherdjemil
    • , Robert L. Lalonde
    •  & Marie Kmita

  • Letter |

    Hoxa- and Hoxd-deficient zebrafish generated using Crispr/Cas with fate mapping have reduced fin rays and increased endochondral elements, establishing homology between the developmental programs that create fin rays and the wrists and digits of mammals.

    • Tetsuya Nakamura
    • , Andrew R. Gehrke
    •  & Neil H. Shubin

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