Animal genomes follow irreversible 'evolutionary highways' across thousands of species
A human, an octopus, and a coral could hardly look more different—yet deep inside their cells, their chromosomes still carry recognizable pieces of a genome inherited from an animal ancestor that lived more than 600 million years ago. Since then, their chromosomes have fused, split and rearranged countless times. Today, thousands of animal genomes have been sequenced.
Animals ranging from humans to octopuses to corals share a common ancestral genome that lived more than 600 million years ago. Over time, their chromosomes have undergone numerous fusions, splits, and rearrangements. A recent study published in Science Advances reveals that animal genomes evolve along a set of irreversible evolutionary paths.
By comparing over 5,800 chromosome-scale genomes from 4,454 animal species across 19 phyla, researchers have mapped these unique evolutionary highways. The study, led by scientists from the University of Vienna, found that chromosome fusions, which mix genes in a one-way process called fusion-with-mixing, leave permanent ancestry signals and separate lineages into distinct genome-architecture regions.
This irreversible process explains variations in chromosome number across animal groups and could help prioritize deep studies of unusual lineages and test the link between chromosome changes and shifts in gene regulation, development, or biodiversity.
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