Tunicates and not cephalochordates are the closest living relatives of vertebrates - PubMed (original) (raw)
. 2006 Feb 23;439(7079):965-8.
doi: 10.1038/nature04336.
Affiliations
- PMID: 16495997
- DOI: 10.1038/nature04336
Free article
Tunicates and not cephalochordates are the closest living relatives of vertebrates
Frédéric Delsuc et al. Nature. 2006.
Free article
Abstract
Tunicates or urochordates (appendicularians, salps and sea squirts), cephalochordates (lancelets) and vertebrates (including lamprey and hagfish) constitute the three extant groups of chordate animals. Traditionally, cephalochordates are considered as the closest living relatives of vertebrates, with tunicates representing the earliest chordate lineage. This view is mainly justified by overall morphological similarities and an apparently increased complexity in cephalochordates and vertebrates relative to tunicates. Despite their critical importance for understanding the origins of vertebrates, phylogenetic studies of chordate relationships have provided equivocal results. Taking advantage of the genome sequencing of the appendicularian Oikopleura dioica, we assembled a phylogenomic data set of 146 nuclear genes (33,800 unambiguously aligned amino acids) from 14 deuterostomes and 24 other slowly evolving species as an outgroup. Here we show that phylogenetic analyses of this data set provide compelling evidence that tunicates, and not cephalochordates, represent the closest living relatives of vertebrates. Chordate monophyly remains uncertain because cephalochordates, albeit with a non-significant statistical support, surprisingly grouped with echinoderms, a hypothesis that needs to be tested with additional data. This new phylogenetic scheme prompts a reappraisal of both morphological and palaeontological data and has important implications for the interpretation of developmental and genomic studies in which tunicates and cephalochordates are used as model animals.
Comment in
- Evolution: careful with that amphioxus.
Gee H. Gee H. Nature. 2006 Feb 23;439(7079):923-4. doi: 10.1038/439923a. Nature. 2006. PMID: 16495981 No abstract available.
Similar articles
- Additional molecular support for the new chordate phylogeny.
Delsuc F, Tsagkogeorga G, Lartillot N, Philippe H. Delsuc F, et al. Genesis. 2008 Nov;46(11):592-604. doi: 10.1002/dvg.20450. Genesis. 2008. PMID: 19003928 - Characterization of microRNAs in cephalochordates reveals a correlation between microRNA repertoire homology and morphological similarity in chordate evolution.
Dai Z, Chen Z, Ye H, Zhou L, Cao L, Wang Y, Peng S, Chen L. Dai Z, et al. Evol Dev. 2009 Jan-Feb;11(1):41-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-142X.2008.00301.x. Evol Dev. 2009. PMID: 19196332 - Ribosomal RNA genes and deuterostome phylogeny revisited: more cyclostomes, elasmobranchs, reptiles, and a brittle star.
Mallatt J, Winchell CJ. Mallatt J, et al. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2007 Jun;43(3):1005-22. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.11.023. Epub 2006 Dec 9. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 2007. PMID: 17276090 - Development of the appendicularian Oikopleura dioica: culture, genome, and cell lineages.
Nishida H. Nishida H. Dev Growth Differ. 2008 Jun;50 Suppl 1:S239-56. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-169X.2008.01035.x. Dev Growth Differ. 2008. PMID: 18494706 Review. - Amphioxus and tunicates as evolutionary model systems.
Schubert M, Escriva H, Xavier-Neto J, Laudet V. Schubert M, et al. Trends Ecol Evol. 2006 May;21(5):269-77. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2006.01.009. Epub 2006 Feb 17. Trends Ecol Evol. 2006. PMID: 16697913 Review.
Cited by
- Neural crest lineage in the protovertebrate model Ciona.
Todorov LG, Oonuma K, Kusakabe TG, Levine MS, Lemaire LA. Todorov LG, et al. Nature. 2024 Oct 23. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08111-7. Online ahead of print. Nature. 2024. PMID: 39443803 - Are Melanocortin Receptors Present in Extant Protochordates?
Ji RL, Jiang SS, Kleinau G, Scheerer P, Tao YX. Ji RL, et al. Biomolecules. 2024 Sep 4;14(9):1120. doi: 10.3390/biom14091120. Biomolecules. 2024. PMID: 39334886 Free PMC article. - Understanding vertebrate immunity through comparative immunology.
Boehm T. Boehm T. Nat Rev Immunol. 2024 Sep 24. doi: 10.1038/s41577-024-01083-9. Online ahead of print. Nat Rev Immunol. 2024. PMID: 39317775 Review. - Evolutionary Insights from the Mitochondrial Genome of Oikopleura dioica: Sequencing Challenges, RNA Editing, Gene Transfers to the Nucleus, and tRNA Loss.
Klirs Y, Novosolov M, Gissi C, Garić R, Pupko T, Stach T, Huchon D. Klirs Y, et al. Genome Biol Evol. 2024 Sep 3;16(9):evae181. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evae181. Genome Biol Evol. 2024. PMID: 39162337 Free PMC article. - The genomes of all lungfish inform on genome expansion and tetrapod evolution.
Schartl M, Woltering JM, Irisarri I, Du K, Kneitz S, Pippel M, Brown T, Franchini P, Li J, Li M, Adolfi M, Winkler S, de Freitas Sousa J, Chen Z, Jacinto S, Kvon EZ, Correa de Oliveira LR, Monteiro E, Baia Amaral D, Burmester T, Chalopin D, Suh A, Myers E, Simakov O, Schneider I, Meyer A. Schartl M, et al. Nature. 2024 Oct;634(8032):96-103. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07830-1. Epub 2024 Aug 14. Nature. 2024. PMID: 39143221
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Miscellaneous