ArticleJournal of anatomy2017
Evolutionary aspects of the development of teeth and baleen in the bowhead whale.
Article in Journal of anatomy, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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18 citing papers in PubMed, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- The metamorphic transition of the frog mouth: from tadpole keratinized mouthparts to adult teeth.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
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- Protein signaling and morphological development of the tail fluke in the embryonic beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas).Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists · 2024Article
- From teeth to pad: tooth loss and development of keratinous structures in sirenians.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Cetacean tongue mobility and function: A comparative review.Journal of anatomy · 2023Review
- Atavistic and vestigial anatomical structures in the head, neck, and spine: an overview.Anatomical science international · 2023Review
- Evo Devo of the Vertebrates Integument.Journal of developmental biology · 2023Review
- Comparative embryology of Delphinapterus leucas (beluga whale), Balaena mysticetus (bowhead whale), and Stenella attenuata (pan-tropical spotted dolphin) (Cetacea: Mammalia).Journal of morphology · 2023Article
- Lateral palatal foramina do not indicate baleen in fossil whales.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Enhancing CT imaging: A safe protocol to stain and de-stain rare fetal museum specimens using diffusible iodine-based staining (diceCT).Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
- Morphological variation of the relictual alveolar structures in the mandibles of baleen whales.PeerJ · 2021Article
- The Evolution of Unusually Small Amelogenin Genes in Cetaceans; Pseudogenization, X-Y Gene Conversion, and Feeding Strategy.Journal of molecular evolution · 2020Article
- Prenatal developmental sequence of the skull of minke whales and its implications for the evolution of mysticetes and the teeth-to-baleen transition.Journal of anatomy · 2019Article
- Article
- A new archaic baleen whaleRoyal Society open science · 2018Article
- Heterochronic truncation of odontogenesis in theropod dinosaurs provides insight into the macroevolution of avian beaks.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2017Article
- A behavioural framework for the evolution of feeding in predatory aquatic mammals.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Review
- Alveoli, teeth, and tooth loss: Understanding the homology of internal mandibular structures in mysticete cetaceans.PloS one · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In utero, baleen whales initiate the development of several dozens of teeth in upper and lower jaws. These tooth germs reach the bell stage and are sometimes mineralized, but toward the end of prenatal life they are resorbed and no trace remains after birth. Around the time that the germs disappear, the keratinous baleen plates start to form in the upper jaw, and these form the food-collecting mechanism. Baleen whale ancestors had two generations of teeth and never developed baleen, and the prenatal teeth of modern fetuses are usually interpreted as an evolutionary leftover. We investigated the development of teeth and baleen in bowhead whale fetuses using histological and immunohistochemical evidence. We found that upper and lower dentition initially follow similar developmental pathways. As development proceeds, upper and lower tooth germs diverge developmentally. Lower tooth germs differ along the length of the jaw, reminiscent of a heterodont dentition of cetacean ancestors, and lingual processes of the dental lamina represent initiation of tooth bud formation of replacement teeth. Upper tooth germs remain homodont and there is no evidence of a secondary dentition. After these germs disappear, the oral epithelium thickens to form the baleen plates, and the protein FGF-4 displays a signaling pattern reminiscent of baleen plates. In laboratory mammals, FGF-4 is not involved in the formation of hair or palatal rugae, but it is involved in tooth development. This leads us to propose that the signaling cascade that forms teeth in most mammals has been exapted to be involved in baleen plate ontogeny in mysticetes.
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