Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution最新文献

{"title":"The Relevance and Resilience of Evo-Devo in 2025: The Biennial Meeting of the Pan American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology","authors":"Mark Rebeiz, Jennifer A. Brisson, Chris Amemiya, D. Nathaniel Clarke, Tetsuya Nakamura, Leslie Pick, Patricia Schneider, Yuichiro Suzuki, Christina Zakas, Karen D. Crow","doi":"10.1002/jez.b.70020","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jez.b.70020","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The 2025 biennial meeting of the Pan American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology (PASEDB), held July 22–25 at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, was a dynamic gathering of 112 researchers dedicated to studying how developmental processes shape evolutionary change across the tree of life. PASEDB was founded to promote the study of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) and to provide an inclusive forum for collaboration (Abouheif and Sears <span>2015</span>), communication, and education across the Americas and beyond. Since its inaugural meeting in 2015 at UC Berkeley (Edgar and Chinga <span>2015</span>; Lesoway <span>2016</span>), PASEDB has become a cornerstone of the American evo-devo community.</p><p>Biennial meetings continue PASEDB's tradition of engaging with current challenges, both scientific and existential, while strengthening connections across its membership and advocating for the future of evo-devo. The 2025 meeting took place amid a rapidly shifting political climate and an increasingly uncertain scientific funding environment in the United States. Despite these challenges, the PASEDB Council elected to move forward with the meeting, reaffirming the Society's commitment to fostering collaboration, maintaining momentum in the field, and providing a forum for scientific engagement during a period of uncertainty. As a result of these factors, overall attendance, especially from countries outside of the United States, was lower than at previous meetings. To partially address this, plenary speakers from Latin America were invited to give talks via zoom to the group meeting in person in Miami. The diminished international presence underscored the importance of sustained efforts to promote scientific exchange across borders, a core value of the evo-devo community.</p><p>The plenary sessions of the meeting were held with all attendees present in one room, allowing all attendees to collectively enjoy the talks and topics spanning the breadth of the discipline. The scientific program highlighted the conceptual, empirical, and methodological diversity of evo-devo. Presentations spanned core concepts such as the evolution of developmental mechanisms, the origins of novelty, and phenotypic plasticity, while showcasing an array of methodological approaches. Equally notable was the diversity of study systems represented, with work on emerging and non-traditional models such as placozoans and upside-down jellyfish presented alongside more established systems. Together, these contributions highlight the power of evo-devo to generate insights by combining conceptual breadth, technical innovation, and biological diversity. Below we highlight some of the overarching themes that emerged across these talks.</p><p>A particularly strong theme centered on discovering the developmental genetic basis of intra- or interspecific variation. Talks by Heather Hines (PI, Penn State) and Christina Zakas (PI, North Carolina State","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":"346 5","pages":"378-382"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jez.b.70020","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147498860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Form and Law - Rupert Riedl's Significance for Morphology","authors":"Michael Schmitt","doi":"10.1002/jez.b.70030","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jez.b.70030","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Rupert Riedl showed in his “Order in Living Organisms” that morphology can produce law statements and is, therefore, a proper, that is, nomothetic, science. Furthermore, he coined useful terms (interphene and metaphene) and concepts (burden, cadre and minimal homology). Notwithstanding certain flaws—he used “laws in evolution” and “verification of a theory” although claiming to be in accordance with Popper's hypothetico-deductivism—and an almost complete absence of synecological relationships in his evolutionary explanations, his scientific legacy still forms a basis of a “logic of morphology” and an “evolutionary morphology,” especially through the works of his students.</p>","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":"346 5","pages":"383-389"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jez.b.70030","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148251970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Review. Cell Biology and Immunohistochemical Evidence of the Transition Between an Aquatic to a Terrestrial-Waterproof Epidermis in the Archosaurian Alligator.","authors":"Lorenzo Alibardi","doi":"10.1002/jez.b.70017","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jez.b.70017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The present review summarizes studies on the morphology and cell biology of the developing epidermis in the alligator as an example of archosaurian reptile. From an initial, two-layered epidermis, numerous suprabasal keratinocytes are produced at late stages of embryonic development, some days before hatching. The soft embryonic epidermis contains mucous granules, cysteine-poor IF-keratins and trichohyalin-like proteins produced from genes located in different chromosomal loci, including the EDC (Epidermal Differentiation Complex). These proteins contribute to the mild keratinization of the embryonic epidermis, resembling that of amphibians. The embryonic epidermis is composed from 3 to 4 layers of epidermal layers that are shed before hatching. The 3rd or 4th layer of the embryonic epidermis begins to accumulate Corneous Beta Proteins (CBPs), marking the transition into the definitive corneous epidermis with the production of spindle-shaped beta-cells. The latter accumulate large amount of CBPs, some lipids droplets and, in some areas also melanosomes, giving rise to a relatively hard and impermeable stratum corneous with a patterned pigmentation. The presence of Sox-oxidase in differentiating and maturing beta-cells, catalyzes the formation of numerous disulphide bonds, likely binding IFKs and CBPs in addition to their electrostatic interactions. Intra- and inter-molecular bonds contribute to hardening the corneous material, forming the definitive corneous layer. The latter, with the incorporated lipids allows to post-hatching, juveniles and adult alligators to withstand the freshwater contact and also the dry conditions of the terrestrial environment where they live. The evolution of numerous EDC proteins and CBPs mixed with lipids confers specific adaptive characteristics to the skin in this reptile.</p>","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":" ","pages":"337-356"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147372818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Levels of Analysis in Evolutionary Genetics: Novel Genes and the Misuse of Homology.","authors":"Brian R Johnson","doi":"10.1002/jezb.70013","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jezb.70013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Taxonomically restricted genes are increasingly understood to play major roles in evolution. However, a significant body of work has taken issue with the notion of widespread \"novel\" genes and argued that such genes have homologs in distant clades that can be found with either sufficiently powerful alignment techniques or by using synteny to find their ancestral sequences. Here, we argue that such work is misguided. Moreover, we argue that the whole notion of genetic assignment of function (and annotation) based on historical origin violates the levels of analysis distinction between origin and current utility. The evolutionary history of a gene is so often not reflective of its current utility that naming genes based on the function of their homologs is bad practice. This is nowhere more apparent than in the case of genes that have changed so radically from their ancestors that they bear no similarity to them at the sequence or protein folding levels. We coin the term, overwriting, for this process in which selection creates novel genes by completely changing the coding sequence of a gene in a manner that does not conserve function , and argue for the general importance of this mechanism.</p>","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":" ","pages":"323-334"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147512550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"ParaHox Genes Revisited: From Gut Patterning to Integrated Axial and Neural Organization in Rotifera.","authors":"Andreas C Fröbius, David B Mark Welch, Holger Herlyn","doi":"10.1002/jez.b.70019","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jez.b.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The ParaHox homeobox genes Gsx, Xlox, and Cdx are evolutionarily related to Hox genes and form part of the ANTP-class homeobox gene repertoire. Comparative genomic data indicate that ParaHox genes were already present before the cnidarian-bilaterian split. Across metazoans, ParaHox genes often show conserved associations with the anteroposterior body axis and have been implicated in both gut patterning and neural development, although gene complements and genomic organization vary substantially among lineages. To investigate ParaHox gene deployment in Gnathifera, we identified orthologs of Gsx and Cdx across gnathiferan lineages, including Chaetognatha, Monogononta, Bdelloidea, Seisonidea, and Acanthocephala, but found no evidence of Xlox, indicating a reduced ParaHox gene complement. We analyzed the genomic organization and embryonic expression of Gsx and Cdx in the monogonont rotifer Brachionus manjavacas (Bm). Genomic mapping revealed a dispersed ParaHox configuration, with Bm-Gsx and Bm-Cdx separated by 4.4 Mb. Using whole-mount in situ hybridization, we detected Bm-Gsx expression in neurons of the foot region, as well as in a small number of cells with neuronal characteristics and probable involvement in stomatogastric system development. Bm-Cdx was expressed in FMRFamide-positive cells associated with the bladder, consistent with a neuroepithelial identity. Together, these data indicate that in rotifers, ParaHox gene expression is predominantly associated with neural structures. We propose that this pattern represents a derived condition reflecting the compact body plan and reduced gut organization characteristic of rotifers, highlighting the evolutionary flexibility of ParaHox gene deployment under lineage-specific developmental constraints.</p>","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":" ","pages":"357-369"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13161344/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147463372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"MARCKS-Like Protein Immunolocalization in Healing Appendages of Amphibians Suggests Its Involvement in Regeneration.","authors":"Lorenzo Alibardi","doi":"10.1002/jez.b.70006","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jez.b.70006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The present study reveals the immunolocalization of the MARCKS-like protein in two urodeles and an anuran during the initial stages of appendage regeneration. This acidic protein of 22-32 kDa interacts with the dynamic cytoskeleton of activated keratinocytes and blastema cells and is believed to be among the initial signaling factors stimulating limb regeneration in the axolotl. Bioinformatics controls indicate presence of homologous MARCKS-like proteins also in other amphibian species. The present study aims to generalize the presence of this protein during the first 2-8 days of appendage regeneration in amphibians. In the wound epidermis of the axolotl, the protein is prevalently localized in pale Leydig cells, a mucous cell type described in amphibian epidermis, many of which are present in the regenerating epidermis. A lower immunolabeling is found in the newt wound epidermis but is high in regenerating nerves. In the regenerating tail of frog tadpoles MARCKS-like immunolabeling is present in the wound epidermis, regenerating spinal cord, ganglia and nerves but also with lower intensity in myotubes and in the external layer of notochord. Low to absent MARCKS-like immunoreactivity is instead observed in the normal epidermis and in the wound epidermis of the non-regenerating tadpole limb. Although mainly cytoplasmic, also some nuclear labeling is detected in immunoreactive cells of different tissues, especially in the spinal cord, suggesting the activation of nuclear transcriptional process. The protein is present in tissues with high proliferative activity, but is low to absent in most blastema cells and connective tissues during regeneration. The study indicates that the presence of MARCKS-like protein is a general reaction that favors regeneration in amphibians and possibly also in other vertebrates.</p>","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":" ","pages":"309-322"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145654583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"","authors":"","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":"346 4","pages":"305-307"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148073095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Contribution of Learning in the Origin of New Niches. How Learning Can Compensate for Climbing Skills in a Non-Specialized Amphibian.","authors":"Rubén N Muzio, Virginia Abdala, Adriana Manzano, Aldo I Vassallo","doi":"10.1002/jez.b.23328","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jez.b.23328","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>During the origin of new niches, animals face novel situations and must adapt to access new resources. Innovative individuals may develop strategies and behaviors to take advantage of these resources, although these individuals often lack striking adaptations for the new niche. In these individuals, adequate performance must be achieved, even in cases where behaviors are not typical or usual, which does not necessarily imply optimal performance in terms of energy or speed, but rather the flexibility to choose a different scenario to pursue a biological purpose. Through experience, animals can improve their ability to perform complex movements and adapt to new conditions. We evaluated the existence of additional locomotor skills in a widespread anuran amphibian, Rhinella arenarum. This toad has a terrestrial niche, probably the ancestral condition within the genus. Therefore, it allows us to know the limits of these capacities to execute novel behaviors. Specifically, we analyzed whether the climbing abilities demonstrated by this terrestrial toad can be improved through learning. Adult male and female toads were tested in a climbing device during eight daily sessions. After training, animals improved climbing performance, measured by climbing latency, climbing speed, and stride frequency. The improvement by learning the ability to climb could thus represent an adaptation that allows the exploitation of arboreal niches. Our results indicate that it is possible that innovative individuals who manage to acquire and perfect the ability to climb could expand their range of available niches and, potentially, give rise to new evolutionary lines.</p>","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":" ","pages":"242-254"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144956527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Skull Ossification in the Andean Toad Rhinella spinulosa (Bufonidae) and the Genetic Model Organism Xenopus tropicalis (Pipidae) Reveals Heterochrony Phenomena and Frontoparietal Suture Modifications.","authors":"Marco Mundaca, Japhet Rojas, Lefney Cumilaf, Federico Jara, David Muñoz, Luis Pastenes, Marco Méndez, Lina M Tovar, Marcela Torrejón, Germán Montoya-Sanhueza, Sylvain Marcellini","doi":"10.1002/jez.b.23280","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jez.b.23280","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Anurans are famous for having evolved a highly simplified skull through bone loss and fusion events. Nevertheless, their skeleton displays a rich morphological diversity associated with adaptations to diverse lifestyles and ecological niches. Here, we report larval skull ossification in the Andean toad Rhinella spinulosa (Bufonidae), and compare it to the phylogenetically distant genetic model organism Xenopus tropicalis (Pipidae). We find that the ossification timing of most skull bones is conserved between both species, except for the prootic and the angulosplenial that ossify at much later stages in R. spinulosa than X. tropicalis. We propose that a delayed lower jaw ossification in R. spinulosa is tightly related to the more extensive metamorphosis process observed in this species where the ventrally oriented mouth opening shifts anteriorly. We also report two conspicuous notches in the R. spinulosa frontoparietal bone mineralization front which are absent in X. tropicalis, and presumably represent evolutionary remnants of the coronal suture that separates the frontal and parietal bones in most vertebrates. As such notches have not been overtly reported in the literature, we examined the X. tropicalis sibling species Xenopus laevis, and were able to identify similar, albeit transient, indentations in the forming frontoparietal bone, suggesting that vestigial coronal sutures might exist in more frog species than anticipated. Taken together, we show that R. spinulosa represents an ideal organism to study heterochronic shifts and the mechanisms underlying cranial suture loss which drove anuran skull simplification.</p>","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":" ","pages":"162-171"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142769370","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fractal Dimension of Dental Crowns: An Innovative Method for Age Estimation in Toxodonts.","authors":"Donato Costamagna, Guillermo Cassini, Vanina Cabral, Gabriela I Schmidt, Brenda S Ferrero","doi":"10.1002/jez.b.23319","DOIUrl":"10.1002/jez.b.23319","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Toxodonts constitute a group of extinct native South American ungulates that have been subject of extensive paleobiological research. Among the traits analyzed, enamel crest complexity (ECC; through fractal dimension) and occlusal surface tooth area (OTA) have recently been studied. However, they have not yet been applied to evaluate differences between ontogenetic stages, (e.g., juveniles, subadults, and adults). Here, we analyzed these traits in the p2-m3 of three species of Toxodontidae, Adinotherium ovinum (n = 8), Nesodon imbricatus (n = 11), and Toxodon platensis (n = 19), along ontogeny by standardized major axis regressions using OTA of m1 as an age proxy, and compared adult and young individuals (i.e., m3 not fully erupted) by Kruskal-Wallis test. Our results showed that ECC decreases with age in all teeth, and p2-m1 seems to share a common slope for Adinotherium and Nesodon. Kruskal-Wallis test showed significant differences between age and species in p3 and molars, with young individuals having higher ECC values than adults. There is a decreasing trend in ECC values from A. ovinum (highest), through N. imbricatus (intermediate), to T. platensis (lowest). These differences are more pronounced from m1 to m3. We conclude that both ECC and OTA can serve as effective tools for differentiating adult toxodonts from those that have not yet reached adulthood. The lower ECC in adult molars may be due to crown simplification during ontogeny, as teeth wear over time by abrasion from food particles during chewing. Conversely, OTA increases in adults as a mixed effect of wear and the larger size of their teeth compared to younger individuals.</p>","PeriodicalId":15682,"journal":{"name":"Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution","volume":" ","pages":"200-213"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144642724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}