A genomics approach reveals insights into the importance of gene losses for mammalian adaptations.

ABSTRACT: Identifying the genomic changes that underlie phenotypic adaptations is a key challenge in evolutionary biology and genomics. Loss of protein-coding genes is one type of genomic change with the potential to affect phenotypic evolution. Here, we develop a genomics approach to accurately detect gene losses and investigate their importance for adaptive evolution in mammals. We discover a number of gene losses that likely contributed to morphological, physiological, and metabolic adaptations in aquatic and flying mammals. These gene losses shed light on possible molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie these adaptive phenotypes. In addition, we show that gene loss events that occur as a consequence of relaxed selection following adaptation provide novel insights into species' biology. O

SUBMITTER: Sharma V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5865188 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature