ArticleNature communications2016
Refuting the hypothesis that the acquisition of germ plasm accelerates animal evolution.
Article in Nature communications, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- The dynamic evolution of panarthropod germ cell specification mechanisms.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- How germ granules promote germ cell fate.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2024Review
- Gene Protein Sequence Evolution Can Predict the Rapid Divergence of Ovariole Numbers in the Drosophila melanogaster Subgroup.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Conflict-reducing innovations in development enable increased multicellular complexity.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Stay on the road: from germ cell specification to gonadal colonization in mammals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Review
- Primordial Germ Cell Specification in Vertebrate Embryos: Phylogenetic Distribution and Conserved Molecular Features of Preformation and Induction.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Review
- The deteriorating soma and the indispensable germline: gamete senescence and offspring fitness.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Contrasting patterns of molecular evolution in metazoan germ line genes.BMC evolutionary biology · 2019Article
- Heterogeneity of primordial germ cells.Current topics in developmental biology · 2019Review
- Article
- Causes and evolutionary consequences of primordial germ-cell specification mode in metazoans.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Primordial germ cells (PGCs) give rise to the germ line in animals. PGCs are specified during embryogenesis either by an ancestral mechanism of cell-cell signalling (induction) or by a derived mechanism of maternally provided germ plasm (preformation). Recently, a hypothesis was set forth purporting that germ plasm liberates selective constraint and accelerates an organism's protein sequence evolution, especially for genes from early developmental stages, thereby leading to animal species radiations; empirical validation has been claimed in vertebrates. Here we present findings from global rates of protein evolution in vertebrates and invertebrates refuting this hypothesis. Contrary to assertions of the hypothesis, we find no effect of preformation on protein sequence evolution, the evolutionary rates of early-stage developmental genes, or on species diversification. We conclude that the hypothesis is mechanistically implausible, and our multi-faceted analysis shows no empirical support for any of its predictions.
Indexed as
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.