From Micro to Macro: Avian Chromosome Evolution is Dominated by Natural Selection.

ABSTRACT: Birds display striking variation in chromosome number, defying the traditional view of highly conserved avian karyotypes. However, the evolutionary drivers of this variability remain unclear. To address this, we fit probabilistic models of chromosome number evolution across birds, enabling us to estimate rates of evolution for total chromosome number and the number of microchromosomes and macrochromosomes while simultaneously accounting for the impact of other evolving traits. Our analyses revealed higher rates of chromosome fusion than fission across all bird lineages. Notably, much of this signal was driven by Passeriformes, where migratory species showed a particularly strong bias towards fusions compared to sedentary counterparts. Furthermore, a robust correlation between the rearrange

SUBMITTER: Alfieri JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11642735 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature