What can whiskers tell us about mammalian evolution, behaviour, and ecology?

Most mammals have whiskers; however, nearly everything we know about whiskers derives from just a handful of species, including laboratory rats Rattus norvegicus and mice Mus musculus, as well as some species of pinniped and marsupial. We explore the extent to which the knowledge of the whisker system from a handful of species applies to mammals generally. This will help us understand whisker evolution and function, in order to gain more insights into mammalian behaviour and ecology. This review is structured around Tinbergen’s four questions, since this method is an established, comprehensive, and logical approach to studying behaviour. We ask: how do whiskers work, develop, and evolve? And what are they for? While whiskers are all slender, curved, tapered, keratinised hairs that transmit vibrotactile information, we show that there are marked differences between species with respect to whisker arrangement, numbers, length, musculature, development, and growth cycles. The conservation of form and a common muscle architecture in mammals suggests that early mammals had whiskers. Whiskers may have been functional even in therapsids. However, certain extant mammalian species are equipped with especially long and sensitive whiskers, in particular nocturnal, arboreal species, and aquatic species, which live in complex environments and hunt moving prey. Knowledge of whiskers and whisker use can guide us in developing conservation protocols and designing enriched enclosures for captive mammals. We suggest that further comparative studies, embracing a wider variety of mammalian species, are required before one can make large-scale predictions relating to evolution and function of whiskers. More research is needed to develop robust techniques to enhance the welfare and conservation of mammals

Proteomic and genomic characterization of a yeast model for Ogden syndrome

Naa10 is a Nalpha -terminal acetyltransferase that, in a complex with its auxiliary subunit Naa15, co-translationally acetylates the alpha-amino group of newly synthetized proteins as they emerge from the ribosome. Roughly 40-50% of the human proteome is acetylated by Naa10, rendering this an enzyme with one of the most broad substrate ranges known. Recently, we reported an X-linked disorder of infancy, Ogden syndrome, in two families harboring a c.109 T > C (p.Ser37Pro) variant in NAA10. In the present study we performed in-depth characterization of a yeast model of Ogden syndrome. Stress tests and proteomic analyses suggest that the S37P mutation disrupts Naa10 function and reduces cellular fitness during heat shock, possibly due to dysregulation of chaperone expression and accumulation. Microarray and RNA-seq revealed a pseudo-diploid gene expression profile in DeltaNaa10 cells, likely responsible for a mating defect. In conclusion, the data presented here further support the disruptive nature of the S37P/Ogden mutation and identify affected cellular processes potentially contributing to the severe phenotype seen in Ogden syndrome. Data are available via GEO under identifier GSE86482 or with ProteomeXchange under identifier PXD004923

A phylogenomic rodent tree reveals the repeated evolution of masseter architectures

Understanding the number of times a trait has evolved is a necessary foundation for comprehending its potential relationships with selective regimes, developmental constraints and evolutionary diversification. Rodents make up over 40% of extant mammalian species, and their ecological and evolutionary success has been partially attributed to the increase in biting efficiency that resulted from a forward shift of one or two portions of the masseter muscle from the zygomatic arch onto the rostrum. This forward shift has occurred in three discrete ways, but the number of times it has occurred has never been explicitly quantified. We estimated an ultrametric phylogeny, the first to include all rodent families, using thousands of ultraconserved elements. We examined support for evolutionary relationships among the five rodent suborders and then incorporated relevant fossils, fitted models of character evolution, and used stochastic character mapping to determine that a portion of the masseter muscle has moved forward onto the rostrum at least seven times (with one reversal) during the approximately 70 Myr history of rodents. Combined, the repeated evolution of this key innovation, its increasing prevalence through time, and the species diversity of clades with this character underscores the adaptive value of improved biting efficiency and the relative ease with which some advantageous traits arise

Contributions to mammalogy in honor of Karl F. Koopman. Bulletin of the AMNH ; no. 206

432 p. : ill., maps ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references.Karl F. Koopman: a biography and bibliography / David Klingener and Thomas A. Griffiths -- The identity of Phyllostoma planirostre Spix, 1823 (Chiroptera: Sternodermatinae) / Charles O. Handley, Jr. -- The systematic status of Dermanura concolor (Peters, 1865) (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae), with description of a new genus / Robert D. Owen -- Systematic variation in the megachiropteran tube-nosed bats Nyctimene cyclotis and N. certans / R.L. Peterson -- Examination of monophyly of bats: restriction map of the ribosomal DNA cistron / Robert J. Baker, Rodney L. Honeycutt, and Ronald A. Van Den Bussche -- Morphometrics of the family Emballonuridae / Patricia W. Freeman and Cliff A. Lemen -- Systematics of emballonuroid bats (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae and Rhinopomatidae), based on hyoid morphology / Thomas A. Griffiths and Andrea L. Smith -- Aspects of the morphology of the cochlea in microchiropteran bats: an investigation of character transformation / Michael J. Novacek -- Phylogenetic relationships of the New World bat genus Sturnira (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) / Victor Pacheco and Bruce D. Patterson -- Comparative morphology of the glans penis in Molossus, Promops, and Eumops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) / James M. Ryan -- A brief history of Bolivian chiroptology and new records of bats / Sydney Anderson -- An analysis of patterns of distribution and species richness among Philippine fruit bats (Pteropodidae) / Lawrence R. Heaney -- Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) from the Togian Islands, Sulawesi, Indonesia / J.E. Hill -- Neotropical Chiroptera from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Florida / Gary S. Morgan -- Mammals of the Tres Marías Islands / Don E. Wilson -- Tent construction and use by Uroderma bilobatum in coconut palms (Cocos nucifera) in Costa Rica / Robert M. Timm and Susan E. Lewis -- A fossil Myospalax cranium (Rodentia: Muridae) from Shanxi, China, with observations on zokor relationships / Marie A. Lawrence -- Postcranial remains of Xenothrix mcgregori (Primates, Xenotrichidae) and other late Quaternary mammals from Long Mile Cave, Jamaica / R.D.E. MacPhee and John G. Fleagle -- Sulawesi rodents (Muridae: Murinae): morphological and geographical boundaries of species in the Rattus hoffmanni group and a new species from Pulau Peleng / Guy G. Musser and Mary Ellen Holden -- Pseudoryzomys simplex (Rodentia: Muridae) and the significance of Lund's collections from the caves of Lagoa Santa, Brazil / Robert S. Voss and Philip Myers