布里斯托大学Jordi Paps小组取得一项新突破。他们的最新研究揭示了趋同基因组进化塑造了陆生动物的出现。相关论文发表在2025年11月12日出版的《自然》杂志上。

这些组成了一系列独立的进化实验，从中该研究团队可以破译偶然性与趋同性在动物基因组适应中的作用。

本文比较了来自21个动物门及其外群的154个基因组，重建了与11个动物陆化事件相关的祖先基因组的蛋白质编码内容，并产生了陆化的时间尺度。小组发现，在每一次向陆地过渡的过程中，基因的获得和丧失都有不同的模式，但类似的生物功能反复出现，表明特定的适应是陆地生命的关键。研究表明，半陆生物种进化出了收敛的功能模式，而完全陆生物种则遵循不同的路径到达陆地。他们的时间轴支持过去487年动物殖民陆地的三个时间窗口一百万年，每一次都与特定的生态环境有关。尽管每个谱系都表现出不同的适应性，但有强有力的证据表明，整个动物王国的基因组进化趋同，这表明，在很大程度上，对陆地生活的适应是可以预测的，将基因与生态系统联系起来。

据了解，生命从水到陆地的过渡所带来的挑战是深刻的，然而在许多不同的动物谱系中都遇到了这些挑战。

附：英文原文

Title: Convergent genome evolution shaped the emergence of terrestrial animals

Author: Wei, Jialin, Pisani, Davide, Donoghue, Philip C. J., lvarez-Presas, Marta, Paps, Jordi

Issue&Volume: 2025-11-12

Abstract: The challenges associated with the transition of life from water to land are profound1, yet they have been met in many distinct animal lineages2,3,4,5. These constitute a series of independent evolutionary experiments from which we can decipher the role of contingency versus convergence in the adaptation of animal genomes. Here we compare 154 genomes from 21 animal phyla and their outgroups to reconstruct the protein-coding content of the ancestral genomes linked to 11 animal terrestrialization events, and to produce a timescale of terrestrialization. We uncover distinct patterns of gene gain and loss underlying each transition to land, but similar biological functions emerged recurrently pointing to specific adaptations as key to life on land. We show that semi-terrestrial species evolved convergent functional patterns, in contrast with fully terrestrial lineages that followed different paths to land. Our timeline supports three temporal windows of land colonization by animals during the last 487million years, each associated with specific ecological contexts. Although each lineage exhibits distinct adaptations, there is strong evidence of convergent genome evolution across the animal kingdom suggesting that, in large part, adaptation to life on land is predictable, linking genes to ecosystems.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09722-4

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09722-4