美国加州大学Z. Jack Tseng小组在研究中取得进展。他们发现了性能权衡定义了哺乳动物牙齿的基本二分法。2026年7月16日出版的《科学》发表了这项成果。

然而，该研究团队不知道这些拮抗功能之间的潜在权衡如何影响哺乳动物谱系的宏观进化结果。该课题组发现，掠食性哺乳动物进化出了摩擦性食肉牙齿的二分性表现，切片限制在一组狭窄的最佳表型上，而拼接则显示出冗余的解决方案。不到1%的掠食者进化出了优化的剪切和剪切。摩擦圈结构在功能上的基本权衡促进了不同的宏观进化专门化，而不是功能的二元性。这些结果强调了关键的创新如何推动早期进化的成功，同时限制随后的多样化。

据介绍，牙齿决定了哺乳动物的进化，在冠状哺乳动物中许多适应性牙齿的突破之一是磨牙：一种具有双重剪切-磨齿功能的牙齿，通常被认为是冠状哺乳动物的关键适应。

附：英文原文

Title: Performance trade-offs define a fundamental dental dichotomy in mammals

Author: Narimane Chatar, Melvin Vankelst, Alejandro Pérez-Ramos, Tahlia I. Pollock, Davide Tamagnini, Margot Michaud, Levi Yoder Raskin, Z. Jack Tseng

Issue&Volume: 2026-07-16

Abstract: Teeth define mammalian evolution, and one of many adaptive dental breakthroughs in crown mammals is the tribosphenic molar: a tooth with a dual shearing-crushing function, often considered a key adaptation in crown mammals. However, we do not know how potential trade-offs between these antagonistic functions may influence the macroevolutionary outcomes of mammalian lineages. Here, we show that predatory mammals evolved dichotomized performance in their tribosphenic carnassial teeth, with slicing constrained to a narrow set of optimal phenotypes and crushing exhibiting redundant solutions. Less than 1% of predators evolved optimized shearing and crushing. The fundamental trade-off in functions of the tribosphenic architecture promoted divergent macroevolutionary specializations rather than functional duality. These results highlight how key innovations can drive early evolutionary success while simultaneously constraining subsequent diversification.

DOI: aee3453

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aee3453

期刊信息

Science：《科学》，创刊于1880年。隶属于美国科学促进会，最新IF：63.714

官方网址：https://www.sciencemag.org/

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