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PMID: 15983372 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Origin of the Eumetazoa: testing ecological predictions of molecular clocks against the Proterozoic fossil record.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 102 ·No. 27 ·2005-07-05 ·Pages 9547-52

Peterson KJ, Butterfield NJ

Abstract

Molecular clocks have the potential to shed light on the timing of early metazoan divergences, but differing algorithms and calibration points yield conspicuously discordant results. We argue here that competing molecular clock hypotheses should be testable in the fossil record, on the principle that fundamentally new grades of animal organization will have ecosystem-wide impacts. Using a set of seven nuclear-encoded protein sequences, we demonstrate the paraphyly of Porifera and calculate sponge/eumetazoan and cnidarian/bilaterian divergence times by using both distance [minimum evolution (ME)] and maximum likelihood (ML) molecular clocks; ME brackets the appearance of Eumetazoa between 634 and 604 Ma, whereas ML suggests it was between 867 and 748 Ma. Significantly, the ME, but not the ML, estimate is coincident with a major regime change in the Proterozoic acritarch record, including: (i) disappearance of low-diversity, evolutionarily static, pre-Ediacaran acanthomorphs; (ii) radiation of the high-diversity, short-lived Doushantuo-Pertatataka microbiota; and (iii) an order-of-magnitude increase in evolutionary turnover rate. We interpret this turnover as a consequence of the novel ecological challenges accompanying the evolution of the eumetazoan nervous system and gut. Thus, the more readily preserved microfossil record provides positive evidence for the absence of pre-Ediacaran eumetazoans and strongly supports the veracity, and therefore more general application, of the ME molecular clock.

Keywords

NASA Discipline Evolutionary Biology Non-NASA Center

MeSH Terms

Animals Base Sequence Evolution, Molecular Fossils Invertebrates/genetics Likelihood Functions Models, Genetic Molecular Sequence Data Phylogeny Proteins/genetics Sequence Analysis, DNA

Chemicals

Proteins

Authors & Affiliations

2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID

Peterson Kevin J

Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. kevin.j.peterson@dartmouth.edu

Butterfield Nicholas J

Investigators

1 investigators, click to expand

Peterson K J

Dartmouth U, Hanover, NH

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18 references, click to expand

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Article Info

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Abbr.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

ISSN

0027-8424

DOI

10.1073/pnas.0503660102

kevin.j.peterson@dartmouth.edu

Published

2005-07-05

Epub

2005-00-27

Pages

9547-52

Language

English

Region

United States

NLM ID

7505876

PMCID

PMC1172262

Subset

Databases

GENBANK

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PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0503660102 PMC Full Text View journal details

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Origin of the Eumetazoa: testing ecological predictions of molecular clocks against the Proterozoic fossil record.

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