Parallel Genomic Changes Drive Repeated Evolution of Placentas in Live-Bearing Fish.

ABSTRACT: The evolutionary origin of complex organs challenges empirical study because most organs evolved hundreds of millions of years ago. The placenta of live-bearing fish in the family Poeciliidae represents a unique opportunity to study the evolutionary origin of complex organs, because in this family a placenta evolved at least nine times independently. It is currently unknown whether this repeated evolution is accompanied by similar, repeated, genomic changes in placental species. Here, we compare whole genomes of 26 poeciliid species representing six out of nine independent origins of placentation. Evolutionary rate analysis revealed that the evolution of the placenta coincides with convergent shifts in the evolutionary rate of 78 protein-coding genes, mainly observed in transporter- and ve

SUBMITTER: van Kruistum H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8136483 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature