Genome size and evolutionary diversification in vertebrates

Brain Size and Evolutionary Diversification in Birds

The Timing of Timezyme Diversification in Vertebrates

All biological functions in vertebrates are synchronized with daily and seasonal changes in the environment by the time keeping hormone melatonin. Its nocturnal surge is primarily due to the rhythmic activity of the arylalkylamine N-acetyl transferase AANAT, which thus became the focus of many investigations regarding its evolution and function. Various vertebrate isoforms have been reported fr...

Whole-genome duplications spurred the functional diversification of the globin gene superfamily in vertebrates.

It has been hypothesized that two successive rounds of whole-genome duplication (WGD) in the stem lineage of vertebrates provided genetic raw materials for the evolutionary innovation of many vertebrate-specific features. However, it has seldom been possible to trace such innovations to specific functional differences between paralogous gene products that derive from a WGD event. Here, we repor...

Transposons, Genome Size, and Evolutionary Insights in Animals.

The relationship between genome size and the percentage of transposons in 161 animal species evidenced that variations in genome size are linked to the amplification or the contraction of transposable elements. The activity of transposable elements could represent a response to environmental stressors. Indeed, although with different trends in protostomes and deuterostomes, comprehensive change...

Origins, Innovations, and Diversification of Suction Feeding in Vertebrates.

We review the origins, prominent innovations, and major patterns of diversification in suction feeding by vertebrates. Non-vertebrate chordates and larval lamprey suspension-feed by capturing small particles in pharyngeal mucous. In most of these lineages the gentle flows that transport particles are generated by buccal cilia, although larval lamprey and thaliacean urochordates have independent...