The origin of platelets enabled the evolution of eutherian placentation | Zendy

John F. Martin | Zendy; Günter P. Wagner | Zendy

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The origin of platelets enabled the evolution of eutherian placentation

Author(s) -

John F. Martin,

Günter P. Wagner

Publication year - 2019

Publication title -

biology letters

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 1.596

H-Index - 110

eISSN - 1744-957X

pISSN - 1744-9561

DOI - 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0374

Subject(s) - placentation , biology , platelet , evolutionary biology , polyploid , thrombopoiesis , microbiology and biotechnology , pregnancy , placenta , gene , genetics , megakaryocyte , immunology , ploidy , fetus , stem cell , haematopoiesis

Invasive placentation with extended pregnancy is a shared derived characteristic unique to eutherian mammals that possess a highly effective system of haemostasis, platelets. These are found in all mammals but no other group of animals. We propose that platelets and megakaryocytes (large polyploid nucleated bone marrow cells that produce platelets) evolved from an ancestral 2 N thrombocyte by polyploidization and that the possession of platelets enabled the evolution of invasive placentation. This could explain why invasive placentation is limited to mammals.

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