被撤回的出版物: Integrative phylogenomics positions sponges at the root of the animal tree (Retracted article. See vol. 391, 2026)

• 成果类型: Article; Retracted Publication
• 署名作者: Steenwyk, Jacob L.; King, Nicole
• 署名单位: Howard Hughes Medical Institute; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adw9456
• 发表日期: 2025-11-13
• 页码: 751-756
• 关键词: SUPPORTS SPONGES; SISTER GROUP; genome; sequence; INCONGRUENCE; hypotheses; generation; placement; insights; resolves

摘要

Determining whether sponges or ctenophores root the animal tree has important implications for understanding early animal evolution. Here, we examined support for these competing hypotheses by constructing large and highly informative data matrices containing sequences from sponges, ctenophores, cnidarians, bilaterians, and diverse animal relatives. The new data matrices and 10 published datasets were analyzed in 785 topology tests conducted using integrative phylogenomics, a method that unifies concatenation and coalescence to identify genes with a consistent phylogenetic signal. All 490 statistically significant tests supported the sponge-sister hypothesis and none supported the ctenophore-sister hypothesis; the remaining 295 tests were inconclusive. These results provide compelling evidence for the sponge-sister hypothesis and suggest that integrative phylogenomics provides a robust and powerful approach for disentangling branches in the tree of life.