Developmental influence on evolutionary rates and the origin of placental mammal tooth complexity.

ABSTRACT: Development has often been viewed as a constraining force on morphological adaptation, but its precise influence, especially on evolutionary rates, is poorly understood. Placental mammals provide a classic example of adaptive radiation, but the debate around rate and drivers of early placental evolution remains contentious. A hallmark of early dental evolution in many placental lineages was a transition from a triangular upper molar to a more complex upper molar with a rectangular cusp pattern better specialized for crushing. To examine how development influenced this transition, we simulated dental evolution on "landscapes" built from different parameters of a computational model of tooth morphogenesis. Among the parameters examined, we find that increases in the number of enamel knots, t

SUBMITTER: Couzens AMC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8202019 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature