What do you need to make a mammal? Searching for accelerated coding and non-coding DNA in mammalian life history

TRIGILA, ANABELLA P.; FRANCHINI L.F.

Montevideo

Simposio; Brain and Mind Evolution; 2017

SNU

Discovering the evolutionary history of the mammalian lineage is both challenging and fascinating due to the high heterogeneity of this taxum. Mammals evolved from a branch of synapsids, about 250 million years ago. During this time, mammals developed several unique common features, such as an articulated jaw, an enlarged inner ear, warm-bloodedness, hair and lactation. These advances are also accompanied by a more complex nervous system. Several studies have found evidence of positive selection in particular proteins involved in the development of these processes. Nevertheless, it still remains unclear what is the role of coding and non-coding elements at a genome-wide level. Taking advantage of the great availability of sequencing information from a diversity of mammalian and non-mammalian vertebrates we designed a strategy to identify ancestrally conserved sequences that show signatures of accelerated evolution in the mammalian lineage. Here, I will present an outline of the methodology we are using to reach this goal.