This information is embargoed until:
2:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time, Thursday, 11 December 2014
The Avian Tree of Life
An international team of researchers has sequenced the genomes of 45 species of birds to create the
most reliable avian tree of life to date. This massive project, which took more than four years to
complete and involved hundreds of researchers from 20 different countries around the world,
analyzed at least one genome from every major bird lineage and produced dozens of reports -- eight
of which are published in this issue of Science. Taken together, the results reveal how some of the
earliest branches on the avian family tree diverged, helping to answer some long-standing questions
about the common ancestor of birds, crocodilians, and dinosaurs. The studies also shed new light on
the evolution of avian sex chromosomes, vocal learning in both birds and humans, and the
evolutionary processes that led to birds losing their teeth. The findings support a “big bang” theory for
bird evolution during the 10 to 15 million years that followed the dinosaurs’ extinction at the
Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary. They also suggest that the earliest common ancestor of land birds,
which include parrots and songbirds as well as hawks and eagles, was an apex predator. Instead of
studying a few genes at a time, trying to infer species’ relationships over the past 100 million years or
so -- as many previous studies have done -- this project examined whole genomes to get a clearer
picture of avian evolution. A Review article by Xing Xu and colleagues also highlights recent progress
in tracing the origin of birds from theropod dinosaurs, focusing especially on recent fossil finds of
feathered dinosaurs of northeastern China. The authors integrate current research on developmental
biology and functional anatomy with the paleontological record to show how key features of birds,
such as feathers, wings, and flight, originated and evolved, radiating from their dinosaur forebears.
Accompanying this Science collection is a range of additional avian genome studies that will be
published by the open access publisher BioMed Central. The Avian Genome special section will
appear at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6215/1308 once the embargo lifts.
Article #8: "Comparative genomics reveals insights into avian genome evolution and adaptation," by
G. Zhang; C. Li; Q. Li; B. Li; L. Xu; H. Pan; Z. Wang; L. Jin; P. Zhang; H. Hu; W. Yang; J. Hu; J. Xiao;
Z. Yang; Y. Liu; Q. Xie; H. Yu; J. Lian; P. Wen; F. Zhang; H. Li; Y. Zeng; Z. Xiong; S. Liu; L. Zhou; Z.
Huang; N. An; J. Wang; Q. Zheng; Y. Xiong; G. Wang; B. Wang; J. Wang; Y. Zhang; H. Yang; J.
Wang; J. Wang at BGI-Shenzhen in Shenzhen, China; G. Zhang; C. Li; Q. Li; R.R. da Fonseca; A.
Alfaro-Núñez; M. Schubert; L. Orlando; T. Mourier; E. Willerslev; G.R. Graves; M.T.P. Gilbert at
University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark; D.M. Larkin; M. Farré at University of London in
London, UK; C. Lee; H. Kim; K.-W. Kim at Seoul National University in Seoul, Republic of Korea. For
a complete list of authors, see the manuscript.
DOWNLOAD Online Version of Article #8
DOWNLOAD Print Version of Article #8
DOWNLOAD Supporting Online Material for Article #8
Contact: Guojie Zhang at +45-91855431 (Denmark) or +86-15914140493 (China), or
zhanggjconi@gmail.com and zhanggj@genomics.cn (email), is available to conduct interviews in
English and Chinese.
DOI Information: Reporters wishing to link to this paper's abstract on sciencemag.org can use the
following URL: http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1251385
Note: For embargoed access to the BioMed Central papers, please contact Mr. Joel Winston, media
officer, at phone +44-0-20-3192 2081 or email: Joel.Winston@biomedcentral.com.
Note: A summary of this paper will be published in print by the journal Science on Friday, 12
December. A full-text version of this paper will be published online when the embargo lifts at
http://www.sciencemag.org.
Article #9: "Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds ," by
E.D. Jarvis; J.T. Howard; G. Ganapathy; V. Zavidovych at Duke University Medical Center in Durham,
NC; E.D. Jarvis; J.T. Howard; G. Ganapathy; V. Zavidovych at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in
Durham, NC; S. Mirarab; Md.S. Bayzid; T. Warnow at The University of Texas at Austin in Austin, TX;
A.J. Aberer; A. Stamatakis at Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies in Heidelberg, Germany; B.
Li; C. Li; J. Li; F. Zhang; H. Li; L. Zhou; Z. Xiong; Y. Zeng; S. Liu; Z. Li; B. Liu; K. Wu; J. Xiao; X.
Yinqi; Q. Zheng; Y. Zhang; G. Zhang; H. Yang; J. Wang at BGI-Shenzhen in Shenzhen, China. For a
complete list of authors, see the manuscript.
DOWNLOAD Online Version of Article #9
DOWNLOAD Print Version of Article #9
Contact: Erich D. Jarvis at jarvis@neuro.duke.edu (email). Tandy Warnow at
tandywarnow@gmail.com (email). Thomas P. Gilbert at mtpgilbert@gmail.com (email). Wang Jun at
wangj@genomics.cn (email). Guojie Zhang at +45-91855431 (Denmark) or +86-15914140493
(China), or zhanggjconi@gmail.com and zhanggj@genomics.cn (email), is available to conduct
interviews in English and Chinese.
DOI Information: Reporters wishing to link to this paper's abstract on sciencemag.org can use the
following URL: http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1253451
Note: A summary of this paper will be published in print by the journal Science on Friday, 12
December. A full-text version of this paper will be published online when the embargo lifts at
http://www.sciencemag.org.
Article #10: "Complex evolutionary trajectories of sex chromosomes across bird taxa," by Q. Zhou; D.
Bachtrog at University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, CA; J. Zhang; N. An; Q. Huang; G. Zhang
at BGI-Shenzhen in Shenzhen, China; E.D. Jarvis at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Durham,
NC; E.D. Jarvis at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC; M.T.P. Gilbert; G. Zhang at
University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark; M.T.P. Gilbert at Curtin University in Perth, WA,
Australia.
Contact: Qi Zhou at +01-510-508-2958 (phone), or zhouqi@berkeley.edu (email),is available to
conduct interviews in English and Chinese. Guojie Zhang at +45-91855431 (Denmark) or +8615914140493 (China), or zhanggjconi@gmail.com and zhanggj@genomics.cn (email), is available to
conduct interviews in English and Chinese.
DOI Information: Reporters wishing to link to this paper's abstract on sciencemag.org can use the
following URL: http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1246338
Note: A summary of this paper will be published in print by the journal Science on Friday, 12
December. A full-text version of this paper will be published online when the embargo lifts at
http://www.sciencemag.org.
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