| 1. |
- Lopez, Jordi Estefa, et al.
(författare)
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Limb-bone development of seymouriamorphs : implications for the evolution of growth strategy in stem amniotes
- 2020
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Earth Science. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-6463. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tetrapod life on land was the result of a lengthy process, the final steps of which resulted in full independence of amniotic tetrapods from the aquatic environment. Developmental strategies, including growth rate and the attainment of sexual maturity, played a major role in this transition. Early amniotes, such as Ophiacodon, tended to reach sexual maturity in a year while most non-amniotic Paleozoic tetrapods (including Devonian tetrapods and temnospondyls) became adult after 3 to 11 years. This ontogenetic transition is accompanied by a drastic change in growth rate and bone microstructure suggesting faster growth dynamics in early amniotes than in Devonian tetrapods and temnospondyls. Was the acquisition of a faster development (earlier sexual maturity and faster growth rate) a drastic evolutionary event or an extended process over geological time? To answer this question, the limb bone histology of two Early Permian (i.e. 270-290 million-year-old) stem-amniote seymouriamorphs, Seymouria sanjuanensis and Discosauriscus austriacus, were investigated. We used three-dimensional bone paleohistology based on propagation phase-contrast synchrotron microtomography. Both seymouriamorphs display relatively fast bone growth and dynamics (even though cyclic in the humerus of D. austriacus). This significantly contrasts with the slow primary bone deposition encountered in the stylopods of temnospondyls and Devonian (i.e. 360 million-year-old) stem tetrapods of similar sizes. On the basis of skeletochronological data, the seymouriamorph D. austriacus retained a long pre-reproductive period as observed in Devonian tetrapods and most temnospondyls. The combination of characteristics (faster growth rate but long pre-reproductive period) suggests that the shift towards an amniotic developmental strategy was an extended process in the evolutionary history of amniotes.
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| 2. |
- Lopez, Jordi Estefa, et al.
(författare)
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New light shed on the early evolution of limb-bone growth plate and bone marrow
- 2021
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Ingår i: eLIFE. - : eLife Sciences Publications Ltd. - 2050-084X. ; 10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The production of blood cells (haematopoiesis) occurs in the limb bones of most tetrapods but is absent from the fin bones of ray-finned fish. When did long bones start producing blood cells? Recent hypotheses suggested that haematopoiesis migrated into long bones prior to the water-to-land transition and protected newly-produced blood cells from harsher environmental conditions. However little fossil evidence to support these hypotheses has been provided so far. Observations of the humeral microarchitecture of stem-tetrapods, batrachians and amniotes were performed using classical sectioning and three-dimensional synchrotron virtual histology. They show that Permian tetrapods seem to be among the first to exhibit a centralised marrow organisation which allows haematopoiesis as in extant amniotes. Not only does our study demonstrate that long-bone haematopoiesis was probably not an exaptation to the water-to-land transition but it sheds light on the early evolution of limb-bone development and the sequence of bone-marrow functional acquisitions.
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| 3. |
- Oliveira, Marta Bastos, et al.
(författare)
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Expression of arthropod distal limb-patterning genes in the onychophoran Euperipatoides kanangrensis
- 2014
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Ingår i: Development, Genes and Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0949-944X .- 1432-041X. ; 224:2, s. 87-96
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A current hypothesis states that the ancestral limb of arthropods is composed of only two segments. The proximal segment represents the main part of the modern leg, and the distal segment represents the tarsus and claw of the modern leg. If the distal part of the limb is an ancestral feature, one would expect conserved regulatory gene networks acting in distal limb development in all arthropods and possibly even their sister group, the onychophorans. We investigated the expression patterns of six genes known to function during insect distal limb development in the onychophoran Euperipatoides kanangrensis, i.e., clawless (cll), aristaless (al), spineless (ss), zinc finger homeodomain 2 (zfh2), rotund (rn), and Lim1. We find that all investigated genes are expressed in at least some of the onychophoran limbs. The expression patterns of most of these genes, however, display crucial differences to the known insect patterns. The results of this study question the hypothesis of conserved distal limb evolution in arthropods and highlight the need for further studies on arthropod limb development.
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| 4. |
- Xie, Meng, et al.
(författare)
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Secondary ossification center induces and protects growth plate structure
- 2020
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Ingår i: eLIFE. - : ELIFE SCIENCES PUBLICATIONS LTD. - 2050-084X. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Growth plate and articular cartilage constitute a single anatomical entity early in development but later separate into two distinct structures by the secondary ossification center (SOC). The reason for such separation remains unknown. We found that evolutionarily SOC appears in animals conquering the land - amniotes. Analysis of the ossification pattern in mammals with specialized extremities (whales, bats, jerboa) revealed that SOC development correlates with the extent of mechanical loads. Mathematical modeling revealed that SOC reduces mechanical stress within the growth plate. Functional experiments revealed the high vulnerability of hypertrophic chondrocytes to mechanical stress and showed that SOC protects these cells from apoptosis caused by extensive loading. Atomic force microscopy showed that hypertrophic chondrocytes are the least mechanically stiff cells within the growth plate. Altogether, these findings suggest that SOC has evolved to protect the hypertrophic chondrocytes from the high mechanical stress encountered in the terrestrial environment.
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