Casuarius casuarius
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ABSTRACT:
PROVIDER: PRJNA10828 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
Similar Datasets
Project description:The project aims at taxonomy of extinct and extant birds using proteomics.
2019-05-20 | PXD009204 | Pride
Project description:An extant ratite that has a threatened conservation status
| PRJNA10821 | ENA
Project description:The cranial casques of modern cassowaries (Casuarius) have long intrigued researchers; however, in-depth studies regarding their morphological variation are scarce. Through visual inspection, it has been recognized that casque variability exists between conspecifics. Understanding casque variation has both evolutionary and ecological importance. Although hypothesized to be targeted by selection, intraspecific casque variation has not been quantified previously. Through a large sample of C. casuarius (n = 103), we compared casque shape (lateral and rostral views) between sexes and between individuals from non-overlapping geographical regions using two-dimensional (2D) geometric morphometrics. We found no statistically significant differences between the casque shape of females and males and few substantial shape differences between individuals from different geographic areas. Much of the intraspecific variation within C. casuarius is due to casque asymmetries (77.5% rightward deviating, 20.7% leftward deviating, and 1.8% non-deviating from the midline; n = 111), which explain the high variability of southern cassowary casque shape, particularly from the rostral aspect. Finally, we discuss how our non-significant findings implicate social selection theory, and we identify the benefits of quantifying such variation for further elucidating casque function(s) and the social biology of cassowaries.
| S-EPMC9482693 | biostudies-literature
Project description:TPA_asm: phased assembly of cassowary (Principal Pseudohaplotype)
| PRJDB10284 | ENA
Project description:TPA_asm: phased assembly of cassowary (Alternate Pseudohaplotype)
| PRJDB10285 | ENA
Project description:Here we show the potential of proteins preserved in Pleistocene eggshell for addressing a longstanding controversy in human and evolution: the identity of the extinct bird that laid the eggs which were exploited by Australia’s first inhabitants. The eggs had been originally attributed to the iconic extinct flightless Genyornis newtoni, and subsequently dated to before 50 ±5 ka by Miller et al. (2016). This was taken to represent the extinction date for this endemic megafaunal species and thus implied a role of humans in its demise. A contrasting hypothesis, according to which the eggshell was laid by a large megapode (mound-builder), would therefore acquit humans of their responsibility in the extinction of Genyornis. Ancient protein sequences were reconstructed and used to assess the evolutionary proximity of the undetermined eggshell to extant birds, rejecting the megapode hypothesis. Ancient DNA could not be retrieved from these highly degraded samples, but morphometric data supported the attribution of the eggshell to Genyornis. When used in triangulation to address well-defined hypotheses, palaeoproteomics is a precious tool for reconstructing the evolutionary history of extinct and extant species. Here we show that the identification of Genyornis eggshell implies a more nuanced understanding of the modes of interactions between humans and their environment.
2022-07-19 | PXD027713 | Pride
Project description:Adaptive evolution has driven the diversification of vertebrate skeletal morphology, enabling a wide array of locomotor modes and lifestyles. In volant birds (carinates), the sternum develops a ventral keel that provides an attachment site for massive pectoral muscles essential for powered flight. In contrast, flightless ratites have lost both flight capability and the keel, resulting in a striking morphological contrast between their sterna. Here, we interrogated the cellular and molecular basis underlying this morphological divergence by using chicken embryos as a carinate model and emu embryos as a ratite model. Through a series of analyses including spatiotemporal transcriptomics and a spheroid culture system, we found that TGF-β signaling, which promotes proliferation of ventral sternal chondroprogenitors, is activated in both species until the stage when the left and right sternal progenitors meet; however, in chicken this activation persists beyond this stage, driving ventral extension of the keel primordium, whereas in emu it shuts off early, culminating in the absence of a protruding keel. Together, our findings suggest that skeletal morphological changes associated with behavioral transitions can arise from heterochrony in developmental signaling, thereby deepening our understanding of the evolutionary logic shaping skeletal diversification.
2026-04-01 | GSE313054 | GEO
Project description:The objective of this study was to determine if Salmonella colonization of chickens could be reduced through competitive exclusion using a defined community of chicken commensal bacteria. One-day old White Leghorn chicks, hatched on-site, were randomly divided into experimental groups and given an oral gavage of either a defined community of 15 bacterial species (DC), cecal contents (CC), or sterile PBS (control; CT). After one week, birds were euthanized for cecal content collection (pre-Salmonella sample) while the remaining birds were orally gavaged 1 X 10^8 colony forming units (CFU) of Salmonella enterica ser. Heidelberg strain 2813 (SH2813). Bacterial counts for three post-Salmonella timepoints (3, 14, and 28 days post inoculation; dpi) were evaluated. Bacteriological enumeration was performed by plating cecal contents onto Salmonella selective agar to determine CFU/g in each group for all collection days. Cecal contents were also used for 16S amplicon sequencing. Cecal tissue was used for stranded mRNA sequencing (RNA-Seq).
2026-01-30 | GSE286977 | GEO
Project description:BACKGROUND:Palaeognathae is a basal clade within Aves and include the large and flightless ratites and the smaller, volant tinamous. Although much research has been conducted on various aspects of palaeognath morphology, ecology, and evolutionary history, there are still areas which require investigation. This study aimed to fill gaps in our knowledge of the Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius, for which information on the skeletal systems of the syrinx, hyoid and larynx is lacking - despite these structures having been recognised as performing key functional roles associated with vocalisation, respiration and feeding. Previous research into the syrinx and hyoid have also indicated these structures to be valuable for determining evolutionary relationships among neognath taxa, and thus suggest they would also be informative for palaeognath phylogenetic analyses, which still exhibits strong conflict between morphological and molecular trees. RESULTS:The morphology of the syrinx, hyoid and larynx of C. casuarius is described from CT scans. The syrinx is of the simple tracheo-bronchial syrinx type, lacking specialised elements such as the pessulus; the hyoid is relatively short with longer ceratobranchials compared to epibranchials; and the larynx is comprised of entirely cartilaginous, standard avian anatomical elements including a concave, basin-like cricoid and fused cricoid wings. As in the larynx, both the syrinx and hyoid lack ossification and all three structures were most similar to Dromaius. We documented substantial variation across palaeognaths in the skeletal character states of the syrinx, hyoid, and larynx, using both the literature and novel observations (e.g. of C. casuarius). Notably, new synapomorphies linking Dinornithiformes and Tinamidae are identified, consistent with the molecular evidence for this clade. These shared morphological character traits include the ossification of the cricoid and arytenoid cartilages, and an additional cranial character, the articulation between the maxillary process of the nasal and the maxilla. CONCLUSION:Syrinx, hyoid and larynx characters of palaeognaths display greater concordance with molecular trees than do other morphological traits. These structures might therefore be less prone to homoplasy related to flightlessness and gigantism, compared to typical morphological traits emphasised in previous phylogenetic studies.
| S-EPMC6935130 | biostudies-literature