Dismantling Chromosomal Stasis Across the Eukaryotic Tree of Life

Chromosome number shapes genome organization, recombination, and speciation, yet how fast it evolves across the tree of life has never been measured. We analyzed 63,682 karyotypes across 55 eukaryotic clades and found that dysploidy rates vary by 844-fold, from approximately 0.0008 to 0.7 events per million years. This variation does not follow kingdom boundaries or deep phylogeny; intraclade variance exceeds interclade differences by more than an order of magnitude. Even birds, the textbook example of chromosomal stasis, exceed the global median rate once microchromosome dynamics are resolved. Contrasting the stasis of Odonata with the volatility of Orchidaceae reveals that life history and population structure, rather than deep phylogenetic constraints, govern the tempo of karyotypic change.

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Publication Details

Journal
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Published
2026-04-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.14.718287
Primary Topic
Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Dismantling Chromosomal Stasis Across the Eukaryotic Tree of Life

Y H Lee, James M. Alfieri, Mallory Murphy, Carl E. Hjelmen et al.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
article

Dismantling Chromosomal Stasis Across the Eukaryotic Tree of Life

Y H Lee, James M. Alfieri, Mallory Murphy, Carl E. Hjelmen, Kiedon Bryant, Michelle M. Jonika, Nayeli Pérez, Riya Girish, Andrés Barboza, Megan Copeland, Sean Chien, Virginia R Lopez, Cassandra E Cruz, Emily Clark, Rachel Koehl, Hannah M Abraham, Carrie E Bernard, Kenzie Laird, Shelbie Cast, Olivia Deiterman, Meghann McConnell, Tanvi Koneru, Kaya Harper, Steven Arackal, Aileen Y Diaz
article en

Abstract

Chromosome number shapes genome organization, recombination, and speciation, yet how fast it evolves across the tree of life has never been measured. We analyzed 63,682 karyotypes across 55 eukaryotic clades and found that dysploidy rates vary by 844-fold, from approximately 0.0008 to 0.7 events per million years. This variation does not follow kingdom boundaries or deep phylogeny; intraclade variance exceeds interclade differences by more than an order of magnitude. Even birds, the textbook example of chromosomal stasis, exceed the global median rate once microchromosome dynamics are resolved. Contrasting the stasis of Odonata with the volatility of Orchidaceae reveals that life history and population structure, rather than deep phylogenetic constraints, govern the tempo of karyotypic change.

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
University of Iowa (US), Utah Valley University (US), Texas A&M University (US), University of Memphis (US)
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Openalex Percentile: Top 24%
Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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