RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Common lizards break Dollo’s law of irreversibility: genome-wide phylogenomics support a single origin of viviparity and re-evolution of oviparity
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 225086
DO 10.1101/225086
A1 Hans Recknagel
A1 Nick Kamenos
A1 Kathryn R. Elmer
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/11/25/225086.abstract
AB Dollo’s law of irreversibility states that once a complex trait has been lost in evolution, it cannot be regained. It is thought that complex epistatic interactions and developmental constraints impede the re-emergence of such a trait. Oviparous reproduction (egg-laying) requires the formation of an eggshell and represents an example of such a complex trait. In reptiles, viviparity (live-bearing) has evolved repeatedly but it is highly disputed if oviparity has re-evolved. Here, using up to 194,358 SNP loci and 1,334,760 bp of sequence, we reconstruct the phylogeny of viviparous and oviparous lineages of common lizards and infer the evolutionary history of parity modes. Our phylogeny strongly supports six main common lizard lineages that have been previously identified. We find very high statistical support for a topological arrangement that suggests a reversal to oviparity from viviparity. Our topology is consistent with highly differentiated chromosomal configurations between lineages, but disagrees with previous phylogenetic studies in some nodes. While we find high support for a reversal to oviparity, more genomic and developmental data are needed to robustly test this and assess the mechanism by which a reversal might have occurred.