Conserved Patterns in Developmental Processes and Phases, Rather than Genes, Unite the Highly Divergent Bilateria
Bilateria are the predominant clade of animals on Earth. Despite having evolved a wide variety of body plans and developmental modes, they are characterized by common morphological traits. By default, researchers have tried to link clade-specific genes to these traits, thus distinguishing bilaterian...
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doaj-6c81bba1b1b7459f95212f178d2799272020-11-25T03:06:47ZengMDPI AGLife2075-17292020-09-011018218210.3390/life10090182Conserved Patterns in Developmental Processes and Phases, Rather than Genes, Unite the Highly Divergent BilateriaLuca Ferretti0Andrea Krämer-Eis1Philipp H. Schiffer2The Pirbright Institute, Ash Road, Pirbright, Surrey GU24 0NF, UKInstitut für Genetik, Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Straße 47a, 50674 Köln, GermanyInstitut für Zoologie, Universität zu Köln, Zülpicher Straße 47b, 50674 Köln, GermanyBilateria are the predominant clade of animals on Earth. Despite having evolved a wide variety of body plans and developmental modes, they are characterized by common morphological traits. By default, researchers have tried to link clade-specific genes to these traits, thus distinguishing bilaterians from non-bilaterians, by their gene content. Here we argue that it is rather biological processes that unite Bilateria and set them apart from their non-bilaterian sisters, with a less complex body morphology. To test this hypothesis, we compared proteomes of bilaterian and non-bilaterian species in an elaborate computational pipeline, aiming to search for a set of bilaterian-specific genes. Despite the limited confidence in their bilaterian specificity, we nevertheless detected Bilateria-specific functional and developmental patterns in the sub-set of genes conserved in distantly related Bilateria. Using a novel multi-species GO-enrichment method, we determined the functional repertoire of genes that are widely conserved among Bilateria. Analyzing expression profiles in three very distantly related model species—<i>D. melanogaster</i>, <i>D. rerio</i> and <i>C. elegans</i>—we find characteristic peaks at comparable stages of development and a delayed onset of expression in embryos. In particular, the expression of the conserved genes appears to peak at the phylotypic stage of different bilaterian phyla. In summary, our study illustrate how development connects distantly related Bilateria after millions of years of divergence, pointing to processes potentially separating them from non-bilaterians. We argue that evolutionary biologists should return from a purely gene-centric view of evolution and place more focus on analyzing and defining conserved developmental processes and periods.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/9/182evolutionbilateriagene ontologyexpression profiledevelopmentevodevo |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Luca Ferretti Andrea Krämer-Eis Philipp H. Schiffer |
spellingShingle |
Luca Ferretti Andrea Krämer-Eis Philipp H. Schiffer Conserved Patterns in Developmental Processes and Phases, Rather than Genes, Unite the Highly Divergent Bilateria Life evolution bilateria gene ontology expression profile development evodevo |
author_facet |
Luca Ferretti Andrea Krämer-Eis Philipp H. Schiffer |
author_sort |
Luca Ferretti |
title |
Conserved Patterns in Developmental Processes and Phases, Rather than Genes, Unite the Highly Divergent Bilateria |
title_short |
Conserved Patterns in Developmental Processes and Phases, Rather than Genes, Unite the Highly Divergent Bilateria |
title_full |
Conserved Patterns in Developmental Processes and Phases, Rather than Genes, Unite the Highly Divergent Bilateria |
title_fullStr |
Conserved Patterns in Developmental Processes and Phases, Rather than Genes, Unite the Highly Divergent Bilateria |
title_full_unstemmed |
Conserved Patterns in Developmental Processes and Phases, Rather than Genes, Unite the Highly Divergent Bilateria |
title_sort |
conserved patterns in developmental processes and phases, rather than genes, unite the highly divergent bilateria |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Life |
issn |
2075-1729 |
publishDate |
2020-09-01 |
description |
Bilateria are the predominant clade of animals on Earth. Despite having evolved a wide variety of body plans and developmental modes, they are characterized by common morphological traits. By default, researchers have tried to link clade-specific genes to these traits, thus distinguishing bilaterians from non-bilaterians, by their gene content. Here we argue that it is rather biological processes that unite Bilateria and set them apart from their non-bilaterian sisters, with a less complex body morphology. To test this hypothesis, we compared proteomes of bilaterian and non-bilaterian species in an elaborate computational pipeline, aiming to search for a set of bilaterian-specific genes. Despite the limited confidence in their bilaterian specificity, we nevertheless detected Bilateria-specific functional and developmental patterns in the sub-set of genes conserved in distantly related Bilateria. Using a novel multi-species GO-enrichment method, we determined the functional repertoire of genes that are widely conserved among Bilateria. Analyzing expression profiles in three very distantly related model species—<i>D. melanogaster</i>, <i>D. rerio</i> and <i>C. elegans</i>—we find characteristic peaks at comparable stages of development and a delayed onset of expression in embryos. In particular, the expression of the conserved genes appears to peak at the phylotypic stage of different bilaterian phyla. In summary, our study illustrate how development connects distantly related Bilateria after millions of years of divergence, pointing to processes potentially separating them from non-bilaterians. We argue that evolutionary biologists should return from a purely gene-centric view of evolution and place more focus on analyzing and defining conserved developmental processes and periods. |
topic |
evolution bilateria gene ontology expression profile development evodevo |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/10/9/182 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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