The developmental origins of heterodonty and acrodonty as revealed by reptile dentitions

Lotta Salomies, Julia Eymann, Joni Sampsa Olavi Ollonen, Imran Khan, Nicolas Di-Poi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Despite the exceptional diversity and central role of dentitions in vertebrate evolution, many aspects of tooth characters remain unknown. Here, we exploit the large array of dental phenotypes in acrodontan lizards, including EDA mutants showing the first vertebrate example of positional transformation in tooth identity, to assess the developmental origins and evolutionary patterning of tooth types and heterodonty. We reveal that pleurodont versus acrodont dentition can be determined by a simple mechanism, where modulation of tooth size through EDA signaling has major consequences on dental formula, thereby providing a new flexible tooth patterning model. Furthermore, such implication of morphoregulation in tooth evolution allows predicting the dental patterns characterizing extant and fossil lepidosaurian taxa at large scale. Together, the origins and diversification of tooth types, long a focus of multiple research fields, can now be approached through evo-devo approaches, highlighting the importance of underexplored dental features for illuminating major evolutionary patterns.
Original languageEnglish
JournalScience Advances
Volume7
Issue number51
Number of pages13
ISSN2375-2548
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Dec 2021
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Fields of Science

  • 1181 Ecology, evolutionary biology

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