Platypus genome unravels mysteries of mammalian evolution

Contact: Paul D. Waters, Ph.D., Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. ( , +61-2-61253612)

4. Tracing the evolution of mammalian testicular descent

Researchers have made significant progress in determining the genetic mechanisms underlying mammalian physiological characteristics, but tracing the evolution of these features has proven difficult due to limited availability of vertebrate genome sequences, particularly of organisms basal to mammalian evolution. Now, the platypus genome sequence allows scientists to investigate the evolutionary origins of therian mammal characteristics by comparative analysis with a monotreme mammal. In this paper, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan investigated the evolution of testicular descent, a therian adaptation for optimal spermatogenesis. The group identified critical evolutionary steps associated with the molecular signaling pathway that mediates testicular descent: gene duplication, followed by functional diversification of each of the daughter genes.

“This study highlights the immense opportunity to investigate the evolution and the underpinning genetic events of many lineage-specific adaptations in humans and other vertebrates using comparative genome analyses together with molecular techniques,” remarks corresponding author Dr. Sheau Yu Teddy Hsu.

Reference: Park, J., Semyonov, J., Chang, C.L., Yi, W., Warren, W., and Hsu, S.Y.T. Origin of INSL3-mediated testicular descent in therian mammals. Genome Res. doi:10.1101/gr.7119108.

Contact: Sheau Yu Teddy Hsu, Ph.D., Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA. ( , +1-650-723-7057)

Please direct requests for pre-print copies of the manuscripts to Peggy Calicchia, Genome Research Editorial Secretary ( ; +1-516-422-4012).

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