AI Article Synopsis
- * Researchers identified different macroevolutionary patterns in various genetic regions, indicating a significant shift in molecular evolution at the K-Pg boundary.
- * Findings suggest that this extinction event influenced not only genetic evolution but also developmental modes, body size, and metabolic processes in early birds, marking a key moment in their evolutionary history.
Article Abstract
Complex patterns of genome evolution associated with the end-Cretaceous [Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg)] mass extinction limit our understanding of the early evolutionary history of modern birds. Here, we analyzed patterns of avian molecular evolution and identified distinct macroevolutionary regimes across exons, introns, untranslated regions, and mitochondrial genomes. Bird clades originating near the K-Pg boundary exhibited numerous shifts in the mode of molecular evolution, suggesting a burst of genomic heterogeneity at this point in Earth's history. These inferred shifts in substitution patterns were closely related to evolutionary shifts in developmental mode, adult body mass, and patterns of metabolic scaling. Our results suggest that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction triggered integrated patterns of evolution across avian genomes, physiology, and life history near the dawn of the modern bird radiation.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11290531 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adp0114 | DOI Listing |
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