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A multivariate ecogeographic analysis of macaque craniodental variation.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:To infer the ecogeographic conditions that underlie the evolutionary diversification of macaques, we investigated the within- and between-species relationships of craniodental dimensions, geography, and environment in extant macaque species. We studied evolutionary processes by contrasting macroevolutionary patterns, phylogeny, and within-species associations. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Sixty-three linear measurements of the permanent dentition and skull along with data about climate, ecology (environment), and spatial geography were collected for 711 specimens of 12 macaque species and analyzed by a multivariate approach. Phylogenetic two-block partial least squares was used to identify patterns of covariance between craniodental and environmental variation. Phylogenetic reduced rank regression was employed to analyze spatial clines in morphological variation. RESULTS:Between-species associations consisted of two distinct multivariate patterns. The first represents overall craniodental size and is negatively associated with temperature and habitat, but positively with latitude. The second pattern shows an antero-posterior tooth size contrast related to diet, rainfall, and habitat productivity. After controlling for phylogeny, however, the latter dimension was diminished. Within-species analyses neither revealed significant association between morphology, environment, and geography, nor evidence of isolation by distance. DISCUSSION:We found evidence for environmental adaptation in macaque body and craniodental size, primarily driven by selection for thermoregulation. This pattern cannot be explained by the within-species pattern, indicating an evolved genetic basis for the between-species relationship. The dietary signal in relative tooth size, by contrast, can largely be explained by phylogeny. This cautions against adaptive interpretations of phenotype-environment associations when phylogeny is not explicitly modelled.

SUBMITTER: Grunstra NDS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6492120 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A multivariate ecogeographic analysis of macaque craniodental variation.

Grunstra Nicole D S NDS Mitteroecker Philipp P Foley Robert A RA

American journal of physical anthropology 20180215 2

<h4>Objectives</h4>To infer the ecogeographic conditions that underlie the evolutionary diversification of macaques, we investigated the within- and between-species relationships of craniodental dimensions, geography, and environment in extant macaque species. We studied evolutionary processes by contrasting macroevolutionary patterns, phylogeny, and within-species associations.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>Sixty-three linear measurements of the permanent dentition and skull along with data abou ...[more]

PMID: 29446460

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Project description:BackgroundIn terms of structure and function, the skull is one of the most complicated organs in the body. It is also one of the most important parts in terms of developmental and evolutionary origins. This complexity makes it difficult to obtain evolutionary assessments if, as is usually the case with fossils, only part of the skull is available. For this reason this study involves a set of comparisons whereby the smallest functional units are studied first, and these built up, through a triple-nested hierarchical design, into more complex anatomical regions and eventually into the skull-as-a-whole. This design has been applied to macaques (Macaca) in order to reveal patterns of variation at the different levels. The profiles of such variation have been obtained both within and between species. This has lead to a search for the skull parts that have undergone similar selection pressures during evolution and comparable development patterns in both ontogeny and phylogeny.ResultsMorphometric analysis (Principal Components) was used to obtain these profiles of species and sex separations based on 77 cranial variables from 11 species of macaques. The results showed that 7 functional units could be aggregated into three functionally reasonable anatomical regions on the basis of similarities in profiles. These were: the masticatory apparatus containing mandible, lower teeth and upper teeth, the face as a whole combining maxilla (actually lower face) and upper face, and the cranium as a whole involving cranium and calvaria. Twenty-six variables were finally selected for analyzing the morphology of the whole skull. This last showed an overall profile similar to that revealed in the masticatory apparatus but also contained additional information pertaining to individual species and species-groups separations.ConclusionsThe study provides a model for carrying out analysis of species separations and sex variation simultaneously. Through this design it seems possible to see cranio-dental elements that may result from similar developmental processes, have similar functional adaptations, and show an appropriately integrated structure morphologically. This study also implies that the biological information drawn from part of skull alone, e.g. as in studies of incomplete fossils may provide misleading information.

Project description:BackgroundVariation in genes involved in ethanol metabolism has been shown to influence risk for alcohol dependence (AD) including protective loss of function alleles in ethanol metabolizing genes. We therefore hypothesized that people with severe AD would exhibit different patterns of rare functional variation in genes with strong prior evidence for influencing ethanol metabolism and response when compared to genes not meeting these criteria.ObjectiveLeverage a novel case only design and Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) of severe AD cases from the island of Ireland to quantify differences in functional variation between genes associated with ethanol metabolism and/or response and their matched control genes.MethodsFirst, three sets of ethanol related genes were identified including those a) involved in alcohol metabolism in humans b) showing altered expression in mouse brain after alcohol exposure, and altering ethanol behavioral responses in invertebrate models. These genes of interest (GOI) sets were matched to control gene sets using multivariate hierarchical clustering of gene-level summary features from gnomAD. Using WES data from 190 individuals with severe AD, GOI were compared to matched control genes using logistic regression to detect aggregate differences in abundance of loss of function, missense, and synonymous variants, respectively.ResultsThree non-independent sets of 10, 117, and 359 genes were queried against control gene sets of 139, 1522, and 3360 matched genes, respectively. Significant differences were not detected in the number of functional variants in the primary set of ethanol-metabolizing genes. In both the mouse expression and invertebrate sets, we observed an increased number of synonymous variants in GOI over matched control genes. Post-hoc simulations showed the estimated effects sizes observed are unlikely to be under-estimated.ConclusionThe proposed method demonstrates a computationally viable and statistically appropriate approach for genetic analysis of case-only data for hypothesized gene sets supported by empirical evidence.

Dataset Information

A multivariate ecogeographic analysis of macaque craniodental variation.

Publications

A multivariate ecogeographic analysis of macaque craniodental variation.

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