Developmental processes in Ediacara macrofossils
The Ediacara Biota preserves the oldest fossil evidence of abundant, complex metazoans. Despite their significance, assigning individual taxa to specific phylogenetic groups has proved problematic. To better understand these forms, we identify developmentally controlled characters in representative...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2020.3055 2024-10-06T13:53:20+00:00 Developmental processes in Ediacara macrofossils Evans, Scott D. Droser, Mary L. Erwin, Douglas H. NASA Exobiology Peter Buck Foundation 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.3055 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2020.3055 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2020.3055 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 288, issue 1945, page 20203055 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2021 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.3055 2024-09-09T06:01:29Z The Ediacara Biota preserves the oldest fossil evidence of abundant, complex metazoans. Despite their significance, assigning individual taxa to specific phylogenetic groups has proved problematic. To better understand these forms, we identify developmentally controlled characters in representative taxa from the Ediacaran White Sea assemblage and compare them with the regulatory tools underlying similar traits in modern organisms. This analysis demonstrates that the genetic pathways for multicellularity, axial polarity, musculature, and a nervous system were likely present in some of these early animals. Equally meaningful is the absence of evidence for major differentiation of macroscopic body units, including distinct organs, localized sensory machinery or appendages. Together these traits help to better constrain the phylogenetic position of several key Ediacara taxa and inform our views of early metazoan evolution. An apparent lack of heads with concentrated sensory machinery or ventral nerve cords in such taxa supports the hypothesis that these evolved independently in disparate bilaterian clades. Article in Journal/Newspaper White Sea The Royal Society White Sea Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 288 1945 20203055 |
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English |
description |
The Ediacara Biota preserves the oldest fossil evidence of abundant, complex metazoans. Despite their significance, assigning individual taxa to specific phylogenetic groups has proved problematic. To better understand these forms, we identify developmentally controlled characters in representative taxa from the Ediacaran White Sea assemblage and compare them with the regulatory tools underlying similar traits in modern organisms. This analysis demonstrates that the genetic pathways for multicellularity, axial polarity, musculature, and a nervous system were likely present in some of these early animals. Equally meaningful is the absence of evidence for major differentiation of macroscopic body units, including distinct organs, localized sensory machinery or appendages. Together these traits help to better constrain the phylogenetic position of several key Ediacara taxa and inform our views of early metazoan evolution. An apparent lack of heads with concentrated sensory machinery or ventral nerve cords in such taxa supports the hypothesis that these evolved independently in disparate bilaterian clades. |
author2 |
NASA Exobiology Peter Buck Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Evans, Scott D. Droser, Mary L. Erwin, Douglas H. |
spellingShingle |
Evans, Scott D. Droser, Mary L. Erwin, Douglas H. Developmental processes in Ediacara macrofossils |
author_facet |
Evans, Scott D. Droser, Mary L. Erwin, Douglas H. |
author_sort |
Evans, Scott D. |
title |
Developmental processes in Ediacara macrofossils |
title_short |
Developmental processes in Ediacara macrofossils |
title_full |
Developmental processes in Ediacara macrofossils |
title_fullStr |
Developmental processes in Ediacara macrofossils |
title_full_unstemmed |
Developmental processes in Ediacara macrofossils |
title_sort |
developmental processes in ediacara macrofossils |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.3055 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2020.3055 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2020.3055 |
geographic |
White Sea |
geographic_facet |
White Sea |
genre |
White Sea |
genre_facet |
White Sea |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 288, issue 1945, page 20203055 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.3055 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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288 |
container_issue |
1945 |
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20203055 |
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1812182047276400640 |