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Digit reduction in desert-dwelling rodents. (A) Gerbil (Meriones sp.). (B) Ord's kangroo rat (Dipodomys ordii). (C) Merriam's kangaroo rat (Dipodomys merriami). (D) Jerboa (Allactaga sp.). (E) Greater Egyptian jerboa (Jaculus orientalis). Digits I and V are shown in yellow; digits II, III, and IV are shown in blue. Allactaga and Jaculus orientalis have lost digits I and V, and digits II, III, and IV have fused together. (Adapted with permission from Berman 1985 / Blackwell publishing.) Photograph of a Desert kangaroo rat provided by E. Bartov (top); photograph of a Northern three-toed jerboa provided by K. Cooper (bottom).
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... fact, some species never need to drink water; they can extract moisture from seeds. Desert-dwellers have also evolved kangaroo-like bipedal locomotion that is accompanied by a convergent group of morphological traits including reduced digits in kangaroo rats and jerboas, which literally hop on their toes ( Figure 5). Although generally herbivorous or omnivorous, some rodents have more specialized diets. ...
Context 2
... fact, some species never need to drink water; they can extract moisture from seeds. Desert-dwellers have also evolved kangaroo-like bipedal locomotion that is accompanied by a convergent group of morphological traits including reduced digits in kangaroo rats and jerboas, which literally hop on their toes ( Figure 5). Although generally herbivorous or omnivorous, some rodents have more specialized diets. ...
Citations
... Rodents are a highly diverse group of animals, comprising more than 2,000 species. 1,2 Because rodents occupy such a wide range of habitats, having colonized most terrestrial and aquatic environments, different species have evolved a remarkable array of morphological, behavioral, and physiological traits. [1][2][3] Such traits offer a fascinating opportunity to increase our understanding of the natural world and, in many cases, can be harnessed for biomedical research. ...
... 1,2 Because rodents occupy such a wide range of habitats, having colonized most terrestrial and aquatic environments, different species have evolved a remarkable array of morphological, behavioral, and physiological traits. [1][2][3] Such traits offer a fascinating opportunity to increase our understanding of the natural world and, in many cases, can be harnessed for biomedical research. To list but a few examples, thirteen-lined ground squirrels have a cone-dominant retina that resembles the structural organization of the human retina 4 ; African striped mice have evolved diurnality 5 and, like prairie voles, 6 oldfield mice, 7 and California mice, 8 provide paternal care, [9][10][11] whereas most other mammals do not; naked mole rats are eusocial, have a low incidence of cancer, and live up to 20 years 12 ; Alston singing mice display sophisticated vocal communication 13 ; and spiny mice menstruate 14 and have an exceptional ability to regenerate skin tissue after injury. ...
... Once this occurs, preimplantation embryos are transferred into a pseudo-pregnant female, which is produced by mating a female with a vasectomized male. 16 This ex vivo approach is cumbersome and has several drawbacks: (1) it uses specialized microinjection or electroporation equipment; (2) it needs to be performed by highly skilled personnel because it is technically challenging; ...
Rodents are taxonomically diverse and have evolved a variety of traits. A mechanistic understanding of such traits has remained elusive, however, largely because genome editing in non-traditional model species remains challenging. Here, using the African striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio), we describe TIGER (targeted in vivo genome editing in rodents), a method that relies on a simple intraoviductal injecting technique and uses recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) as the sole vehicle to deliver reagents into pregnant females. We demonstrate that TIGER generates knockout and knockin (up to 3 kb) lines with high efficiency. Moreover, we engineer a double-cleaving repair rAAV template and find that it significantly increases knockin frequency and germline transmission rates. Lastly, we show that an oversized double-cleaving rAAV template leads to an insertion of 3.8 kb. Thus, TIGER constitutes an attractive alternative to traditional ex vivo genome-editing methods and has the potential to be extended to a broad range of species.
... Neste estudo, utilizamos crânios e mandíbulas provenientes de três museus e uma Universidade do Brasil para esclarecer aspectos da morfologia craniana de dois gêneros de roedores neotropicais. Os roedores possuem ampla distribuição geográfica, ocorrem em quase todos os continentes, e podem ocupar diferentes tipos de habitat, o que é possibilitado por seus hábitos alimentares generalistas e por apresentarem altas taxas de reprodução (Kay & Hoekstra 2008). Dentro da infraordem Hystricognathi, encontramos a família Echimyidae onde os roedores apresentam diversas características morfológicas e ecológicas (Emmons et al., 2015;Lara et al., 2002). ...
As coleções científicas têm um papel muito importante em salvaguardar registro da biodiversidade. Neste estudo, utilizamos crânios e mandíbulas de roedores obtidos em três museus e uma Universidade do Brasil. O nosso objetivo foi descrever as diferenças morfológicas entre os dois gêneros de ratos de espinho Proechimys e Trinomys. Para isso, foram fotografados um total de 612 indivíduos de ambos os gêneros. Utilizamos métodos de morfometria geométrica com a plotagem de marcos anatômicos bidimensionais para descrever a forma e tamanho do sincrânio. Nossos resultados demonstraram que não há diferença estatística de tamanho do sincrânio entre os gêneros Proechimys e Trinomys. Porém, há diferença de forma: as espécies de Trinomys apresentaram bulas auditivas proporcionalmente menores, um processo jugal relativamente mais proeminente e um crânio relativamente mais robusto do que as espécies de Proechimys, enquanto as espécies de Proechimys apresentam um crânio relativamente mais delgado e afilado do que as espécies de Trinomys. Este trabalho adiciona informações referentes às diferenças já estabelecidas para os gêneros Proechimys e Trinomys. Além disso, demonstra a importância das coleções científicas para a descrição da biodiversidade.
... Since rodent/glires species comprise a large and important group of mammals it is of much importance to understand the evolutionary relationships and classification of these species. This knowledge should be of great value as rodent species are widely used as animal models for studying different diseases and in evaluating the effects of different chemicals and therapeutics [4][5][6]. ...
The grandorder Glires, consisting of the orders Rodentia and Lagomorpha, encompasses a significant portion of the extant mammalian species including Rat, Mouse, Squirrel, Guinea pig and Beaver. Glires species play an important role in the ecosystem and provide valuable animal models for genetic studies and animal testing. Thus, it is important to reliably determine their evolutionary relationships and identify molecular characteristics that are specific for different species groups within the Glires. In this work, we have constructed a phylogenetic tree for >30 genome sequenced Glires species based on concatenated sequences of 25 conserved proteins. In this tree, members of different orders, suborders, and families within Glires formed strongly supported clades, and their interrelationships were also generally reliably resolved. In parallel, we conducted comparative analyses on more than 1500 protein sequences from Glires species to identify highly conserved molecular markers. These markers were comprised of conserved signature indels (CSIs) in proteins, which are specific for different Rodentia/Glires clades. Of the 41 novel CSIs identified in this work, some are specific for the entire Glires, Rodentia, or Lagomorpha clades, whereas many others reliably demarcate different family/suborder level clades of Rodentia (viz. Myomorpha, Castorimorpha, Sciuromorpha, Hystricomorpha, and Muroidea). Additionally, some of the CSIs also provide information regarding the interrelationships among Rodentia subgroups. Our analysis has also identified one CSI that is commonly shared by the Glires and Scandentia species (tree shrew), however, its evolutionary significance is unclear. Several of the identifed rodents-specific CSIs are present in conserved disease-related proteins. Thus, they provide novel molecular markers for genetic and biochemical studies on the functions of these proteins.
... These two species are remarkably similar, taxonomically and ecologically. Both are from the subfamily Murinae (Family Muridae) in the Order Rodentia, a highly successful and diverse taxonomic group [1,2]. Both are small-bodied, nocturnal, quadrupedal omnivores. ...
To make maps from airborne odours requires dynamic respiratory patterns. I propose that this constraint explains the modulation of memory by nasal respiration in mammals, including murine rodents (e.g. laboratory mouse, laboratory rat) and humans. My prior theories of limbic system evolution offer a framework to understand why this occurs. The answer begins with the evolution of nasal respiration in Devonian lobe-finned fishes. This evolutionary innovation led to adaptive radiations in chemosensory systems, including the emergence of the vomeronasal system and a specialization of the main olfactory system for spatial orientation. As mammals continued to radiate into environments hostile to spatial olfaction (air, water), there was a loss of hippocampal structure and function in lineages that evolved sensory modalities adapted to these new environments. Hence the independent evolution of echolocation in bats and toothed whales was accompanied by a loss of hippocampal structure (whales) and an absence of hippocampal theta oscillations during navigation (bats). In conclusion, models of hippocampal function that are divorced from considerations of ecology and evolution fall short of explaining hippocampal diversity across mammals and even hippocampal function in humans.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.
... "Flautistas, bagels y tortillas: la vida secreta de ratas y ratones" Gloria Tapia Estos mamíferos existen desde hace unos 20 millones de años. Los primeros roedores vivieron en lo que ahora es Asia y eran parecidos a los actuales, pero algunos eran de enorme tamaño, como es el caso de una especie de roedor que vivió hace unos 3.5 millones, de casi una tonelada de peso y aproximadamente 2.5 m de largo (casi lo mismo que un auto compacto) cuyo nombre era Josephoartigasi monesi (Kay y Hoekstra, 2008). Afortunadamente para muchas personas, desde entonces y hasta la fecha, los roedores han disminuido su tamaño, pero también se han diversificado mucho. ...
Resumen Ratas y ratones forman parte del imaginario de la humanidad. Muchos son los mitos que giran en torno a su aspecto, hábitos o estadios de desarrollo. Han sido tratados como deidades por algunas culturas y despreciados por muchas otras. No obstante, han acompañado a la humanidad a lo largo de su historia y comparten un lazo común, incluso en aspectos de salud pública. Este texto recopila datos sobre muchos de los mitos acerca de las ratas y ratones y los clarifica con información científica reciente; asimismo, explica su papel en los ecosistemas naturales y en la salud humana. Abstract Rats and mice are highly integrated in the human imagery. There are a lot of myths and legends around their habits and their relationships with other animals. Some cultures think about them as deities; others, consider them as despicable animals. Rats and mice have lived with humanity throughout history, and they shared a common bond, even in public health aspects. In this text, we compiled data about the myths of rodents and clarify them with current scientific information. Also, we explain the role of rodents in the natural ecosystems and their very important role in human health.
... An expanded glenoid fossa allows rodents' jaws to perform two distinct functions: gnawing and grinding. The masseter is large, constituting the main muscle used in these processes (Kay and Hoekstra 2008;Samuels 2009;Druzinsky 2015). Despite their general body plan being relatively conserved, an array of possible adaptations for different dietary strategies is presented throughout rodent species, with variations in traits such as skull shape, occlusal morphology, and masseter muscle structure (Samuels 2009;Hautier et al. 2012). ...
The anthropic effect associated with worldwide European settlements over the last 500 years has caused dramatic environmental changes, modified regional patterns of biodiversity, and often led to local or complete extinctions. The sigmodontine rodents of Bahía Samborombón (Humid Pampas, central-eastern Argentina) constitute a good case study: a late Holocene archaeological site allowed us to compare a pre-European settlement assemblage (12 species) with the extant one (nine species). We used linear morphometrics (16 cranial and ten mandibular measurements) to assess interspecific morphological variations of the masticatory apparatus in relation to dietary habits for each assemblage. Even though sigmodontines have a tendency towards omnivory, groups based on dietary preference only overlapped partially. Size was one of the main variables involved in niche segregation, and shape characteristics such as rostrum elongation or mandible robustness were linked to different diets. We found that a combination of dietary preference and size was associated with extinctions. The main morphospace change between the two assemblages was related to the local extinction of the three greater insectivores and the smallest graminivore, located towards the center of the assemblage’s morphospace. An insectivore was incorporated, involving no significant changes in the general morphospace. Graminivores and larvivores were not affected. Our study sheds light on the causes of local extinctions of small mammals at the Humid Pampas, a phenomenon that had never been studied from an ecomorphological approach.
... Rodent and shrew populations are an important component of many ecosystems around the world (Feldhamer, 2015). In the mammalian orders, rodents and shrews are the most diverse; for instance, rodents alone account for over 40% of mammalian species in the world (Barthelmess, 2016;Kay and Hoekstra, 2008;Wilson and Reeder, 2005). These small mammals are characterized by small home ranges, fluctuating population dynamics, high metabolic rates and populations vary from relatively stable to highly cyclic (Krebs, 2013). ...
Rodent and shrew populations are key components of many animal communities around the world. However, their population dynamics and the factors influencing their abundance are still not well understood. We analyzed rodent and shrew community composition and abundance at a UNESCO world heritage site, the Neusiedler See in Eastern Austria, using barn owl pellets. We identified temperature (mean and minimal monthly temperature) as well as maximum precipitation per day as significant drivers of the rodent and shrew presence. Our analyses showed that increased temperatures and dry summers will challenge most of the analyzed species and most likely lead to decreased abundances, which will also affect the already threatened Pannonic root vole (Microtus oeconomus mehelyi). Increased drainage efforts in this area would also lead to less ground water and dryer soil and therefore damage the local rodent and shrew populations. We show that barn owl pellets are a highly efficient way of monitoring rodent and shrew populations over a large area and enable researchers to decipher the factors influencing population and community dynamics. The use of pellet data, therefore, may still be one of the most efficient methods of assessing small mammal populations and their change over time.
... on earth due to their high compatibility at all dry lands except poles. The Muridae family have more than 130 species and include the most important pests in terms of economic and human health, and probably the smartest of them that live in residential houses (Kay and Hoekstra 2008;Khaghani 2007). These rodents are considered as reservoirs and carriers of diseases such as plague, leptospirosis, salmonellosis, rat-bite fever, leishmaniasis, dermatophytosis, sporotrichosis, murine typhus, trichinellosis, relapsing fever, and viral hemorrhagic fever (Dehghani 2011a;Kia and Mirhendy 2008;Sedaghat and Salahi Moghaddam 2010). ...
Rodents cause large financial losses all over the world; in addition, these animals can also act as a reservoir and intermediate host or vector of diseases. Rodents have an important role in the distribution of diseases in an area. Sometimes, the distribution of a particular disease in an area depends on the distribution of rodents in that area. This study focuses on the distribution of rodent-related diseases in Iran. Rodent-borne and rodent-related diseases and diseases with suspected relationship with rodents have been reviewed in this study. Iran, due to the circumstances in which different species of rodents are able to live, has a high prevalence of certain diseases associated with rodents in urban and rural areas. Awareness about the distribution of rodent-related diseases can be a great help to rodent’s control and prevention against the spread of the diseases.
... The human protein shares 99% sequence identity compared to that in mice. Rodents are estimated to have diverged about 74 Ma ago (Kay & Hoekstra, 2008). c The authors pointed out that the rate of evolution of this methyltransferase has remained unchanged from bacteria to humans. ...
Photosystem II is a photochemical reaction center that catalyzes the light‐driven oxidation of water to molecular oxygen. Water oxidation is the distinctive photochemical reaction that permitted the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis and the eventual rise of eukaryotes. At what point during the history of life an ancestral photosystem evolved the capacity to oxidize water still remains unknown. Here, we study the evolution of the core reaction center proteins of Photosystem II using sequence and structural comparisons in combination with Bayesian relaxed molecular clocks. Our results indicate that a homodimeric photosystem with sufficient oxidizing power to split water had already appeared in the early Archean about a billion years before the most recent common ancestor of all described Cyanobacteria capable of oxygenic photosynthesis, and well before the diversification of some of the known groups of anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria. Based on a structural and functional rationale, we hypothesize that this early Archean photosystem was capable of water oxidation to oxygen and had already evolved protection mechanisms against the formation of reactive oxygen species. This would place primordial forms of oxygenic photosynthesis at a very early stage in the evolutionary history of life.
... Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia, and can be characterized by two continuously growing incisors in each one of the upper and lower jaws. The Order Rodentia constitutes about forty percent of mammals species (Kay and Hoekstra 2008). The genus Rattus is classified in the subfamily Murinae. ...
Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia and can harbor a number of ectoparasites. Ectoparasites can transmit diseases to human and domestic animals in residential and non-residential areas. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of ectoparasites in Rattus rattus from Mangrove forests and villages of Qeshm Island. The rodent samples were collected by live traps during 2013–2014. The gender, genus, and species of captured animals were recorded and ectoparasites were collected by skin surface brushing, and subsequently, samples were identified in a laboratory. Overall, 100 rodents were captured in the present study and three species of ectoparasites were collected as follows: Polyplax spinulosa (66%), Laelaps nuttalli (61%), and Liponyssoides muris (10%). Generally, 80 rodents (80%) were infested with at least one species of ectoparasites. Statistical analysis by the chi-square test did not show any significant relation between gender and ectoparasites (p ˃ 0.05). The results of our study indicate that high infestation of the ectoparasite community associated with the rodents captured from Mangrove forests and villages of Qeshm Island is important in terms of public health.
