PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Thomas A. Stewart
AU  - Cong Liang
AU  - Justin L. Cotney
AU  - James P. Noonan
AU  - Thomas J. Sanger
AU  - Günter P. Wagner
TI  - Evidence against tetrapod-wide digit identities and for a limited frame shift in bird wings
AID  - 10.1101/224147
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 224147
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/12/05/224147.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/12/05/224147.full
AB  - In crown group tetrapods, individual digits are homologized in relation to a pentadactyl ground plan. However, testing hypotheses of digit homology is challenging because it is unclear whether digits develop with distinct and conserved gene regulatory states. Here we show dramatic evolutionary dynamism in the gene expression profiles of digits, challenging the notion that five digit identities are conserved across amniotes. Transcriptomics of developing limbs shows diversity in the patterns of genetic differentiation of digits, although the anterior-most digit has a unique, conserved expression profile. Further, we identify a core set of transcription factors that are differentially expressed among the digits of amniote limbs; their spatial expression domains, however, vary between species. In light of these results, we reevaluate the frame shift hypothesis of avian wing evolution and conclude that only the anterior-most digit has shifted position, suggesting a 1,3,4 digit identity in the bird wing.