Authors
Xuemei Xiong, Mingliang Hu, Jiajia Zhou, Zhenyu Xiao, Xinran Zhang, Yulong Chen, Shiming Wan, Chunhong Nie, Xudong Wang, Yuzhe Ding, Qiong Zhou, Jishun Ma, Ann Huysseune, Paul Eckhard Witten, Zuyu Tian, Yun Wang, Kun Wang, Ze-Xia Gao
Published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Volume 123. Issue 39. Pages e2533268123. Sep 29, 2026. Epub Sep 23, 2026.
Abstract
Intermuscular bones (IBs) are critical yet poorly understood evolutionary specializations. These bones exhibit considerable morphological variability, proposed as adaptations to teleost diversification; however, the explicit adaptive and evolutionary mechanisms remain unresolved. By integrating comparative morphological analysis of 360 teleost species and eco-functional performance assays, we demonstrate that IB complexity is associated with ecological niche expansion and enhanced burst swimming capacity, underscoring IBs as versatile adaptations. Single-cell transcriptomic profiling across four ray-finned fish species reveals that the teleost-specific emergence of IBs originated from a tendon-associated ossification pathway. This evolutionary pathway is mechanistically linked to the co-option of existing cell types and gene networks, including the osteogenic program initiated by runx2b and the critical tendon microenvironment maintained by mkxa/b. Furthermore, we provide evidence of repeated IB loss events associated with alterations or losses of these key osteogenic and tendon niche-regulating genes, highlighting the variability of this adaptive trajectory. Our findings reveal a distinct tendon-associated osteogenic system in teleosts, providing a mechanistic framework for IB evolution during teleost adaptive radiation.
PMID:
42776755
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 24 Sep 2026.
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