ArticleRoyal Society open science2015
A phylogenomic analysis of the role and timing of molecular adaptation in the aquatic transition of cetartiodactyl mammals.
Article in Royal Society open science, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Molecular divergence ofZoological research · 2026Article
- Article
- Phylogenomic Approaches to Study Adaptive Evolution in Mammals: From Aging to Aquatic Lifestyles.Annual review of genetics · 2025Review
- Evolution of high-molecular-mass hyaluronic acid is associated with subterranean lifestyle.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Pseudogenization of the Hair-Related Genes PADI3 and S100A3 in Cetaceans and Hippopotamus amphibius.Journal of molecular evolution · 2023Article
- Extracellular Vesicles in Veterinary Medicine.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Comparative Genome Analysis Reveals the Genomic Basis of Semi-Aquatic Adaptation in American Mink (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Differential MC5R loss in whales and manatees reveals convergent evolution to the marine environment.Development genes and evolution · 2022Article
- Genomic bases underlying the adaptive radiation of core landbirds.BMC ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Dietary Diversification and Specialization in Neotropical Bats Facilitated by Early Molecular Evolution.Molecular biology and evolution · 2021Article
- Genomic and anatomical comparisons of skin support independent adaptation to life in water by cetaceans and hippos.Current biology : CB · 2021Article
- Phylogenomic Resolution of the Cetacean Tree of Life Using Target Sequence Capture.Systematic biology · 2020Article
- Complete Inactivation of Sebum-Producing Genes Parallels the Loss of Sebaceous Glands in Cetacea.Molecular biology and evolution · 2019Article
- Limited Evidence for Parallel Molecular Adaptations Associated with the Subterranean Niche in Mammals: A Comparative Study of Three Superorders.Molecular biology and evolution · 2018Article
- Molecular Footprints of Aquatic Adaptation Including Bone Mass Changes in Cetaceans.Genome biology and evolution · 2018Article
- Beyond thermoregulation: metabolic function of cetacean blubber in migrating bowhead and beluga whales.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Recent studies have reported multiple cases of molecular adaptation in cetaceans related to their aquatic abilities. However, none of these has included the hippopotamus, precluding an understanding of whether molecular adaptations in cetaceans occurred before or after they split from their semi-aquatic sister taxa. Here, we obtained new transcriptomes from the hippopotamus and humpback whale, and analysed these together with available data from eight other cetaceans. We identified more than 11 000 orthologous genes and compiled a genome-wide dataset of 6845 coding DNA sequences among 23 mammals, to our knowledge the largest phylogenomic dataset to date for cetaceans. We found positive selection in nine genes on the branch leading to the common ancestor of hippopotamus and whales, and 461 genes in cetaceans compared to 64 in hippopotamus. Functional annotation revealed adaptations in diverse processes, including lipid metabolism, hypoxia, muscle and brain function. By combining these findings with data on protein-protein interactions, we found evidence suggesting clustering among gene products relating to nervous and muscular systems in cetaceans. We found little support for shared ancestral adaptations in the two taxa; most molecular adaptations in extant cetaceans occurred after their split with hippopotamids.
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