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SUMMARY:Origin and early evolution of vertebrates - Professor Philip Donog
 hue (University of Bristol)
DTSTART:20221123T130000Z
DTEND:20221123T140000Z
UID:TALK178526@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Christine Hirschberger
DESCRIPTION:The question of which group of spineless relatives the ancestr
 y of the vertebrates is to be found within has been a popular scientific p
 arlour game since the formalization of evolutionary theory. Scope for cont
 roversy has narrowed dramatically with the availability of molecular data 
 for phylogenetic analysis in genomic depth and taxonomic breadth\, as well
  as the discovery and reinterpretation of key fossils that evidence the or
 igin of the fundamental bodyplans of vertebrates. It now appears impossibl
 e to recover anything other than tunicates as the sibling lineage of the v
 ertebrates and cyclostome monophyly. However\, despite widespread percepti
 on to the contrary\, the interrelationships of fossil invertebrate chordat
 es\, early vertebrates and their living relatives\, remain poorly resolved
  or supported. This is of consequence since understanding of the relations
 hip between phenotypic\, developmental and genome evolution depends critic
 ally upon how knowledge of the timing and sequence of assembly of bodyplan
  characteristics preserved in the fossil record. Recent work\, stimulated 
 by annotation of a hagfish genome\, has allowed us to constrain not only t
 he timing and tempo of early vertebrate evolution\, but also that of the w
 hole genome duplication events that characterize this formative episode in
  our own evolutionary history. Integrating evidence from living and fossil
  vertebrates it is clear that not all such genomic events are imbued with 
 the same evolutionary potential and we explore why the evolution of jawed 
 vertebrates has been so different from their jawless and spineless kin.
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology
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