TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence for a single loss of mineralized teeth in the common avian ancestor
AU - Meredith, Robert W.
AU - Zhang, Guojie
AU - Gilbert, M. Thomas P.
AU - Jarvis, Erich D.
AU - Springer, Mark S.
PY - 2014/12/12
Y1 - 2014/12/12
N2 - Edentulism, the absence of teeth, has evolved convergently among vertebrates, including birds, turtles, and several lineages of mammals. Instead of teeth, modern birds (Neornithes) use a horny beak (rhamphotheca) and a muscular gizzard to acquire and process food.We performed comparative genomic analyses representing lineages of nearly all extant bird orders and recovered shared, inactivating mutations within genes expressed in both the enamel and dentin of teeth of other vertebrate species, indicating that the common ancestor of modern birds lacked mineralized teeth.We estimate that tooth loss, or at least the loss of enamel caps that provide the outer layer of mineralized teeth, occurred about 116 million years ago.
AB - Edentulism, the absence of teeth, has evolved convergently among vertebrates, including birds, turtles, and several lineages of mammals. Instead of teeth, modern birds (Neornithes) use a horny beak (rhamphotheca) and a muscular gizzard to acquire and process food.We performed comparative genomic analyses representing lineages of nearly all extant bird orders and recovered shared, inactivating mutations within genes expressed in both the enamel and dentin of teeth of other vertebrate species, indicating that the common ancestor of modern birds lacked mineralized teeth.We estimate that tooth loss, or at least the loss of enamel caps that provide the outer layer of mineralized teeth, occurred about 116 million years ago.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84917706498&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.1254390
DO - 10.1126/science.1254390
M3 - Article
C2 - 25504730
AN - SCOPUS:84917706498
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 346
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6215
M1 - 1254390
ER -