Biology Faculty Articles

Whole-Genome Analyses Resolve Early Branches in the Tree of Life of Modern Birds

ORCID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Science

ISSN

0036-8075

Publication Date

12-12-2014

Abstract

To better determine the history of modern birds, we performed a genome-scale phylogenetic analysis of 48 species representing all orders of Neoaves using phylogenomic methods created to handle genome-scale data.We recovered a highly resolved tree that confirms previously controversial sister or close relationships.We identified the first divergence in Neoaves, two groups we named Passerea and Columbea, representing independent lineages of diverse and convergently evolved land and water bird species. Among Passerea, we infer the common ancestor of core landbirds to have been an apex predator and confirm independent gains of vocal learning. Among Columbea, we identify pigeons and flamingoes as belonging to sister clades. Even with whole genomes, some of the earliest branches in Neoaves proved challenging to resolve, which was best explained by massive protein-coding sequence convergence and high levels of incomplete lineage sorting that occurred during a rapid radiation after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event about 66 million years ago.

Volume

346

Issue

6215

First Page

1320

Last Page

1331

Comments

©2014 American Association for the Advancement of Science

Additional Comments

Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship grant #: 300837; Howard Hughes Medical Institute and NIH Directors Pioneer award #: DP10D000448; NSF grant #s: DEB 0733029, DBI 1062335; Danish National Research Foundation grant #: DNRF94; Lundbeck Foundation grant #: R52-A5062

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