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New footprints from Laetoli (Tanzania) provide evidence for marked body size variation in early hominins.

ABSTRACT: Laetoli is a well-known palaeontological locality in northern Tanzania whose outstanding record includes the earliest hominin footprints in the world (3.66 million years old), discovered in 1978 at Site G and attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. Here, we report hominin tracks unearthed in the new Site S at Laetoli and referred to two bipedal individuals (S1 and S2) moving on the same palaeosurface and in the same direction as the three hominins documented at Site G. The stature estimates for S1 greatly exceed those previously reconstructed for Au. afarensis from both skeletal material and footprint data. In combination with a comparative reappraisal of the Site G footprints, the evidence collected here embodies very important additions to the Pliocene record of hominin behaviour and morphology. Our results are consistent with considerable body size variation and, probably, degree of sexual dimorphism within a single species of bipedal hominins as early as 3.66 million years ago.

SUBMITTER: Masao FT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5156529 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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New footprints from Laetoli (Tanzania) provide evidence for marked body size variation in early hominins.

Masao Fidelis T FT Ichumbaki Elgidius B EB Cherin Marco M Barili Angelo A Boschian Giovanni G Iurino Dawid A DA Menconero Sofia S Moggi-Cecchi Jacopo J Manzi Giorgio G

eLife 20161214

Laetoli is a well-known palaeontological locality in northern Tanzania whose outstanding record includes the earliest hominin footprints in the world (3.66 million years old), discovered in 1978 at Site G and attributed to <i>Australopithecus afarensis</i>. Here, we report hominin tracks unearthed in the new Site S at Laetoli and referred to two bipedal individuals (S1 and S2) moving on the same palaeosurface and in the same direction as the three hominins documented at Site G. The stature estim ...[more]

PMID: 27964778

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Project description:BackgroundCetaceans exhibit an exceptionally wide range of body size, yet in this regard, their genetic basis remains poorly explored. In this study, 20 body-size-related genes for which duplication, mutation, or deficiency can cause body size change in mammals were chosen to preliminarily investigate the evolutionary mechanisms underlying the dramatic body size variation in cetaceans.ResultsWe successfully sequenced 20 body-size-related genes in six representative species of cetaceans. A total of 46 codons from 10 genes were detected and determined to be under strong positive selection, 32 (69.6%) of which were further found to be under radical physiochemical changes; moreover, some of these sites were localized in or near important functional regions. Interestingly, positively selected genes were well matched with body size evolution: for small cetaceans, strong evidence of positive selection was detected at ACAN, OBSL1, and GRB10, within which mutations or duplications could cause short stature; positive selection was found in large cetaceans at CBS and EIF2AK3, which could promote growth, and at the PLOD1 gene, within which mutations could cause tall stature. Importantly, relationship analyses revealed that the evolutionary rate of CBS was positively related to body length and body mass with statistical significance. Additionally, we identified 32 cetacean-specific amino acid changes in 10 genes.ConclusionsThis is the first study to investigate the molecular basis of dramatic body size variation in cetaceans. Our results provide evidence of the positive selection of several body-size-related genes in cetaceans, as well as divergent selection between large or small cetaceans, which suggest cetacean body size variation possibly associated with these genes. In addition, cetacean-specific amino acid changes might have played key roles in body size evolution after the divergence of cetaceans from their terrestrial relatives. Overall, the evolutionary pattern of these body-size-related genes could provide new insights into genetic mechanisms for the body size variation in cetaceans.

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New footprints from Laetoli (Tanzania) provide evidence for marked body size variation in early hominins.

Publications

New footprints from Laetoli (Tanzania) provide evidence for marked body size variation in early hominins.

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