Reconstruction of the diapsid ancestral genome permits chromosome evolution tracing in avian and non-avian dinosaurs

Rebecca E. O’Connor, Michael N. Romanov, Lucas G. Kiazim, Paul M. Barrett, Marta Farré, Joana Damas, Malcolm Ferguson-Smith, Nicole Valenzuela, Denis M. Larkin and Darren K. Griffin ()
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Rebecca E. O’Connor: University of Kent, Canterbury
Michael N. Romanov: University of Kent, Canterbury
Lucas G. Kiazim: University of Kent, Canterbury
Paul M. Barrett: Natural History Museum
Marta Farré: Royal Veterinary College, University of London
Joana Damas: Royal Veterinary College, University of London
Malcolm Ferguson-Smith: Cambridge University
Nicole Valenzuela: Iowa State University
Denis M. Larkin: Royal Veterinary College, University of London
Darren K. Griffin: University of Kent, Canterbury

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Genomic organisation of extinct lineages can be inferred from extant chromosome-level genome assemblies. Here, we apply bioinformatic and molecular cytogenetic approaches to determine the genomic structure of the diapsid common ancestor. We then infer the events that likely occurred along this lineage from theropod dinosaurs through to modern birds. Our results suggest that most elements of a typical ‘avian-like’ karyotype (40 chromosome pairs, including 30 microchromosomes) were in place before the divergence of turtles from birds ~255 mya. This genome organisation therefore predates the emergence of early dinosaurs and pterosaurs and the evolution of flight. Remaining largely unchanged interchromosomally through the dinosaur–theropod route that led to modern birds, intrachromosomal changes nonetheless reveal evolutionary breakpoint regions enriched for genes with ontology terms related to chromatin organisation and transcription. This genomic structure therefore appears highly stable yet contributes to a large degree of phenotypic diversity, as well as underpinning adaptive responses to major environmental disruptions via intrachromosomal repatterning.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04267-9

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