Phylogenomics reveals the slow-burning fuse of diatom evolution.

ABSTRACT: Evolution is often uneven in its pace and outcomes, with long periods of stasis interrupted by abrupt increases in morphological and ecological disparity. With thousands of gene histories, phylogenomics can uncover the genomic signatures of these broad macroevolutionary trends. Diatoms are a species-rich lineage of microeukaryotes that contribute greatly to the global cycling of carbon, oxygen, and silica, which they use to build elaborately structured cell walls. We combined fossil information with newly sequenced transcriptomes from 181 diverse diatom species to reconstruct the pattern, timing, and genomic context of major evolutionary transitions. Diatoms originated 270 Mya, and after >100 My of relative stasis in morphology and ecology, a radiation near the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary

SUBMITTER: Alverson AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12146733 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature