Genome reshuffling across 5,800 species reveals fixed evolutionary routes

Researchers compared over 5,800 chromosome-scale animal genomes, the largest such analysis to date, and found that chromosome rearrangements follow a limited set of irreversible patterns. These 'evolutionary highways' trace back to a common ancestor from over 600 million years ago and persist across diverse lineages like humans, octopuses, and corals. The findings, published in Science Advances, could inform biodiversity conservation by predicting future genome changes.