Bat teeth illuminate the diversification of mammalian tooth classes

Alexa Sadier (), Neal Anthwal, Andrew L. Krause, Renaud Dessalles, Michael Lake, Laurent A. Bentolila, Robert Haase, Natalie A. Nieves, Sharlene E. Santana and Karen E. Sears ()
Additional contact information
Alexa Sadier: University of California Los Angeles
Neal Anthwal: University of California Los Angeles
Andrew L. Krause: University of Oxford
Renaud Dessalles: University of California Los Angeles
Michael Lake: California NanoSystems Institute, UCLA
Laurent A. Bentolila: California NanoSystems Institute, UCLA
Robert Haase: DFG Cluster of Excellence “Physics of Life”, TU Dresden
Natalie A. Nieves: University of California Los Angeles
Sharlene E. Santana: University of Washington
Karen E. Sears: University of California Los Angeles

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Tooth classes are an innovation that has contributed to the evolutionary success of mammals. However, our understanding of the mechanisms by which tooth classes diversified remain limited. We use the evolutionary radiation of noctilionoid bats to show how the tooth developmental program evolved during the adaptation to new diet types. Combining morphological, developmental and mathematical modeling approaches, we demonstrate that tooth classes develop through independent developmental cascades that deviate from classical models. We show that the diversification of tooth number and size is driven by jaw growth rate modulation, explaining the rapid gain/loss of teeth in this clade. Finally, we mathematically model the successive appearance of tooth buds, supporting the hypothesis that growth acts as a key driver of the evolution of tooth number and size. Our work reveal how growth, by tinkering with reaction/diffusion processes, drives the diversification of tooth classes and other repeated structure during adaptive radiations.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40158-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40158-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40158-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().