ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2021
How to Make a Rodent Giant: Genomic Basis and Tradeoffs of Gigantism in the Capybara, the World's Largest Rodent.
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Natural Foraging Selection and Gut Microecology of Two Subterranean Rodents from the Eurasian Steppe in China.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Disruption of insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS2) causes non-obese type 2 diabetes with β-cell dysfunction in the golden (Syrian) hamster.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- History of Diversification and Adaptation from North to South Revealed by Genomic Data: Guanacos from the Desert to Sub-Antarctica.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- The molecular evolution of genes previously associated with large sizes reveals possible pathways to cetacean gigantism.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- EBP-Colombia and the bioeconomy: Genomics in the service of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Cancer risk across mammals.Nature · 2022Article
- Concurrent Evolution of Antiaging Gene Duplications and Cellular Phenotypes in Long-Lived Turtles.Genome biology and evolution · 2021Article
- The educational community and its knowledge and perceptions of native and invasive alien species.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Convergent evolution of a genomic rearrangement may explain cancer resistance in hystrico- and sciuromorpha rodents.NPJ aging and mechanisms of disease · 2021Article
- Biomimetics provides lessons from nature for contemporary ways to improve human health.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2021Review
- TERT promoter alterations could provide a solution for Peto's paradox in rodents.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Enhanced risk of cancer in companion animals as a response to the longevity.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Phylogenetic and Developmental Constraints Dictate the Number of Cusps on Molars in Rodents.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Core Concept: Solving Peto's Paradox to better understand cancer.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Gigantism results when one lineage within a clade evolves extremely large body size relative to its small-bodied ancestors, a common phenomenon in animals. Theory predicts that the evolution of giants should be constrained by two tradeoffs. First, because body size is negatively correlated with population size, purifying selection is expected to be less efficient in species of large body size, leading to increased mutational load. Second, gigantism is achieved through generating a higher number of cells along with higher rates of cell proliferation, thus increasing the likelihood of cancer. To explore the genetic basis of gigantism in rodents and uncover genomic signatures of gigantism-related tradeoffs, we assembled a draft genome of the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), the world's largest living rodent. We found that the genome-wide ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous mutations (ω) is elevated in the capybara relative to other rodents, likely caused by a generation-time effect and consistent with a nearly neutral model of molecular evolution. A genome-wide scan for adaptive protein evolution in the capybara highlighted several genes controlling postnatal bone growth regulation and musculoskeletal development, which are relevant to anatomical and developmental modifications for an increase in overall body size. Capybara-specific gene-family expansions included a putative novel anticancer adaptation that involves T-cell-mediated tumor suppression, offering a potential resolution to the increased cancer risk in this lineage. Our comparative genomic results uncovered the signature of an intragenomic conflict where the evolution of gigantism in the capybara involved selection on genes and pathways that are directly linked to cancer.
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