Ben Creisler
A new paper with free pdf:
Rebecca E. OâConnor, Michael N. Romanov, Lucas G. Kiazim, Paul M. Barrett, Marta FarrÃ, Joana Damas, Malcolm Ferguson-Smith, Nicole Valenzuela, Denis M. Larkin & Darren K. Griffin (2018)
Reconstruction of the diapsid ancestral genome permits chromosome evolution tracing in avian and non-avian dinosaurs.
Nature Communications 9, Article number: 1883 (2018)
doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04267-9
Genomic organisation of extinct lineages can be inferred from extant chromosome-level genome assemblies. Here, we apply bioinformatic and molecular cytogenetic approaches to determine the genomic structure of the diapsid common ancestor. We then infer the events that likely occurred along this lineage from theropod dinosaurs through to modern birds. Our results suggest that most elements of a typical 'avian-like' karyotype (40 chromosome pairs, including 30 microchromosomes) were in place before the divergence of turtles from birds ~255 mya. This genome organisation therefore predates the emergence of early dinosaurs and pterosaurs and the evolution of flight. Remaining largely unchanged interchromosomally through the dinosaurâtheropod route that led to modern birds, intrachromosomal changes nonetheless reveal evolutionary breakpoint regions enriched for genes with ontology terms related to chromatin organisation and transcription. This genomic structure therefore appears highly stable yet contributes to a large degree of phenotypic diversity, as well as underpinning adaptive responses to major environmental disruptions via intrachromosomal repatterning.
News:
===
From last year, but not yet mentioned:
Kubota Katsuhiro (2017)
A list of Mesozoic dinosaur fossils from Japan.
Humans and Nature 28: 97-115ã(in Japanese)
(very rough translation of abstract)
A list of Mesozoic dinosaur fossils found in Japan is presented, based on information from academic papers, academic presentations, reports collected from books, museums, etc., and news releases to the general public. In addition to the dinosaur fossils from 37 municipalities in 19 prefectures in Japan, the list includes Nipponosaurus sakhalinensis from Sakhalin Island, Russia, which was Japanese territory at the time of discovery.