Introduction – Company Background

GuangXin Industrial Co., Ltd. is a specialized manufacturer dedicated to the development and production of high-quality insoles.

With a strong foundation in material science and footwear ergonomics, we serve as a trusted partner for global brands seeking reliable insole solutions that combine comfort, functionality, and design.

With years of experience in insole production and OEM/ODM services, GuangXin has successfully supported a wide range of clients across various industries—including sportswear, health & wellness, orthopedic care, and daily footwear.

From initial prototyping to mass production, we provide comprehensive support tailored to each client’s market and application needs.

At GuangXin, we are committed to quality, innovation, and sustainable development. Every insole we produce reflects our dedication to precision craftsmanship, forward-thinking design, and ESG-driven practices.

By integrating eco-friendly materials, clean production processes, and responsible sourcing, we help our partners meet both market demand and environmental goals.

Core Strengths in Insole Manufacturing

At GuangXin Industrial, our core strength lies in our deep expertise and versatility in insole and pillow manufacturing. We specialize in working with a wide range of materials, including PU (polyurethane), natural latex, and advanced graphene composites, to develop insoles and pillows that meet diverse performance, comfort, and health-support needs.

Whether it's cushioning, support, breathability, or antibacterial function, we tailor material selection to the exact requirements of each project-whether for foot wellness or ergonomic sleep products.

We provide end-to-end manufacturing capabilities under one roof—covering every stage from material sourcing and foaming, to precision molding, lamination, cutting, sewing, and strict quality control. This full-process control not only ensures product consistency and durability, but also allows for faster lead times and better customization flexibility.

With our flexible production capacity, we accommodate both small batch custom orders and high-volume mass production with equal efficiency. Whether you're a startup launching your first insole or pillow line, or a global brand scaling up to meet market demand, GuangXin is equipped to deliver reliable OEM/ODM solutions that grow with your business.

Customization & OEM/ODM Flexibility

GuangXin offers exceptional flexibility in customization and OEM/ODM services, empowering our partners to create insole products that truly align with their brand identity and target market. We develop insoles tailored to specific foot shapes, end-user needs, and regional market preferences, ensuring optimal fit and functionality.

Our team supports comprehensive branding solutions, including logo printing, custom packaging, and product integration support for marketing campaigns. Whether you're launching a new product line or upgrading an existing one, we help your vision come to life with attention to detail and consistent brand presentation.

With fast prototyping services and efficient lead times, GuangXin helps reduce your time-to-market and respond quickly to evolving trends or seasonal demands. From concept to final production, we offer agile support that keeps you ahead of the competition.

Quality Assurance & Certifications

Quality is at the heart of everything we do. GuangXin implements a rigorous quality control system at every stage of production—ensuring that each insole meets the highest standards of consistency, comfort, and durability.

We provide a variety of in-house and third-party testing options, including antibacterial performance, odor control, durability testing, and eco-safety verification, to meet the specific needs of our clients and markets.

Our products are fully compliant with international safety and environmental standards, such as REACH, RoHS, and other applicable export regulations. This ensures seamless entry into global markets while supporting your ESG and product safety commitments.

ESG-Oriented Sustainable Production

At GuangXin Industrial, we are committed to integrating ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) values into every step of our manufacturing process. We actively pursue eco-conscious practices by utilizing eco-friendly materials and adopting low-carbon production methods to reduce environmental impact.

To support circular economy goals, we offer recycled and upcycled material options, including innovative applications such as recycled glass and repurposed LCD panel glass. These materials are processed using advanced techniques to retain performance while reducing waste—contributing to a more sustainable supply chain.

We also work closely with our partners to support their ESG compliance and sustainability reporting needs, providing documentation, traceability, and material data upon request. Whether you're aiming to meet corporate sustainability targets or align with global green regulations, GuangXin is your trusted manufacturing ally in building a better, greener future.

Let’s Build Your Next Insole Success Together

Looking for a reliable insole manufacturing partner that understands customization, quality, and flexibility? GuangXin Industrial Co., Ltd. specializes in high-performance insole production, offering tailored solutions for brands across the globe. Whether you're launching a new insole collection or expanding your existing product line, we provide OEM/ODM services built around your unique design and performance goals.

From small-batch custom orders to full-scale mass production, our flexible insole manufacturing capabilities adapt to your business needs. With expertise in PU, latex, and graphene insole materials, we turn ideas into functional, comfortable, and market-ready insoles that deliver value.

Contact us today to discuss your next insole project. Let GuangXin help you create custom insoles that stand out, perform better, and reflect your brand’s commitment to comfort, quality, and sustainability.

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High-performance graphene insole OEM Indonesia

Are you looking for a trusted and experienced manufacturing partner that can bring your comfort-focused product ideas to life? GuangXin Industrial Co., Ltd. is your ideal OEM/ODM supplier, specializing in insole production, pillow manufacturing, and advanced graphene product design.

With decades of experience in insole OEM/ODM, we provide full-service manufacturing—from PU and latex to cutting-edge graphene-infused insoles—customized to meet your performance, support, and breathability requirements. Our production process is vertically integrated, covering everything from material sourcing and foaming to molding, cutting, and strict quality control.Pillow ODM design company in Indonesia

Beyond insoles, GuangXin also offers pillow OEM/ODM services with a focus on ergonomic comfort and functional innovation. Whether you need memory foam, latex, or smart material integration for neck and sleep support, we deliver tailor-made solutions that reflect your brand’s values.

We are especially proud to lead the way in ESG-driven insole development. Through the use of recycled materials—such as repurposed LCD glass—and low-carbon production processes, we help our partners meet sustainability goals without compromising product quality. Our ESG insole solutions are designed not only for comfort but also for compliance with global environmental standards.Arch support insole OEM from China

At GuangXin, we don’t just manufacture products—we create long-term value for your brand. Whether you're developing your first product line or scaling up globally, our flexible production capabilities and collaborative approach will help you go further, faster.Taiwan custom product OEM/ODM services

📩 Contact us today to learn how our insole OEM, pillow ODM, and graphene product design services can elevate your product offering—while aligning with the sustainability expectations of modern consumers.China foot care insole ODM expert

An international research consortium co-led by scientists from multiple universities has released a series of studies detailing new high-quality reference genomes from 50 primate species, 27 of which were sequenced for the first time. The findings offer fresh insights into primate evolution, speciation, genomic diversity, and the evolution of brain and other traits, enhancing our understanding of the human genetic architecture, primate diversification, and significant evolutionary phenomena like hybridization and incomplete lineage sorting. Analyses of 50 primate genomes through comparative genomics unveil essential genetic processes involved in primate speciation, adaptive phenotypic changes, and the evolution of social systems. A series of publications from the first phase program of the Primate Genome Consortium presented high-quality reference genomes from 50 primate species, including 27 that were sequenced for the first time. The studies provide new insight into the process of speciation, genomic diversity, social evolution, the evolution of sex chromosomes, the brain, and other biological traits. The research was co-led by Guojie Zhang from the Centre for Evolutionary & Organismal Biology at Zhejiang University, Dong-Dong Wu at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Xiao-Guang Qi at Northwest University, Li Yu at Yunnan University, Mikkel Heide Schierup at Aarhus University, and Yang Zhou at BGI-Research. Large-Scale Phylogenomic Studies Reveal the Genetic Mechanisms Underlying the Evolutionary History and Phenotypic Innovations in Primates The comparative analysis of primate genomes within a phylogenetic context is crucial for understanding the evolution of the human genetic architecture and the inter-species genomic differences associated with primate diversification. Previous studies of primate genomes have focused mainly on primate species closely related to humans and were constrained by the lack of broader phylogenetic coverage. Genomic phylogeny of primates. Credit: Dong-Dong Wu. “Although there are more than 500 primate species worldwide, currently, only 23 representative non-human primates species have had their genomes published, leaving 72% of genera remain unsequenced, which creates significant knowledge gaps in understanding their evolutionary history,” Dong-Dong Wu states. To address this gap, they performed high-quality genome sequencing using long-read sequencing technologies on 27 primate species, including basal lineages that had not been fully sequenced before. Combining this with previously published primate genomes, the project conducted phylogenomic studies of 50 primate species representing 38 genera and 14 families to gain new insights into their genomic and phenotypic evolution. “Based on full genome data, we have generated a highly resolved phylogeny and estimated the emergence of crown Primates between 64.95 and 68.29 million years ago overlapping the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary,” Dong-Dong Wu states. The hybrid origin of gray snub-nosed monkey. Credit: Li Yu The study reported detailed genomic rearrangements across primate lineages and identified thousands of candidate genes that have undergone adaptive natural selection at different ancestral branches of the phylogeny. This includes genes that are important for the development of the nervous, skeletal, digestive, and sensory systems, all of which are likely to have contributed to evolutionary innovations and adaptations of primates. “It is surprising to see that so many genomic changes involving brain-related genes occurred in the common ancestor of the Simian group which includes New-world monkey, Old-world monkey, and great apes,” states Guojie Zhang, “These genomic innovations evolving deep in time at this ancestral node might have paved the way for the further evolution of human unique traits.” Pervasive Incomplete Lineage Sorting Illuminates Speciation and Selection in Primates Although it has been well-recognized that chimpanzees and bonobos are the most closely related species to humans, 15% of our genome is closer to another great ape, the gorilla. This is primarily due to the special evolutionary event called incomplete-lineage sorting (ILS), where the ancestral genetic polymorphism randomly sorts into the descendent species. The study investigated the speciation events during the primate evolution and found ILS occurred frequently in all 29 major ancestral nodes across primates with some nodes having over 50% of the genome affected by ILS. “The genetic diversification process does not follow a bifurcation tree-like topology as we normally know for speciation process, it is more like a complicated net,” Guojie Zhang said. ”It is important to investigate the evolutionary process of each individual gene, which could also affect the evolution of phenotypes across species.” Gray snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus brelichi). Credit: Gui-Yun Li Incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) exhibits extensive variation along the genome, primarily driven by recombination. “We observed that ILS is reduced more on the X chromosome than autosomes compared to what would be expected under neutral evolution, suggesting a higher impact of natural selection on the X chromosome during primate evolution,” Mikkel Heide Schierup states. The study exploits ILS to perform molecular dating of speciation events solely based on genome data, without fossil calibration and found the new dating results were highly consistent with the dating with the fossil record. “This suggests that molecular dating provides an accurate estimate of speciation time even without the fossil records”, says the first author of this paper, Iker Rivas-González. Hybridization Into Species Events Hybridization is increasingly recognized as an important evolutionary force for generating species and phenotypic diversity in plants and animals. This is especially common in lineages that can tolerate whole genome duplication and increased levels of ploidy. However, speciation by hybridization has been rarely reported in mammals. Utilizing full genome data, the team discovered that the gray snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus brelichi was a descendent species from the hybridization between the morphologically differentiated species, the golden snub-nosed monkey R. roxellana and the common ancestor of black-white snub-nosed monkey R. bieti and the black snub-nosed monkey R. strykeri. Cold promotes the social evolution of the Asian langurs. Credit: Xiao-Guang Qi. “To our knowledge, this is the first time that a hybrid speciation event is recorded in primates,” stated Li Yu. This study further identifies key genes in R. brelichi that derived from each parental lineage which may have contributed to the mosaic coat coloration in this species and likely promoted premating reproductive isolation of the hybrid species from the parental lineage. Multidisciplinary Intersection Reveals the Genetic Mechanisms of Social Complexity in Asian Langurs Primates have very diverse social systems, however, the biological mechanisms underlying social evolution remain poorly known. The classical socioecological model hypothesized that the diversity of social systems evolved as a response to environmental changes. The study used Asian colobine monkeys as a model system, as this group of species underwent a staged social evolution process from a one-male, multi-female unit to complex multi-level social forms. They have re-constructed the speciation process of this group using the full genome data and found a strong correlation between the environmental temperature and the group size of the species. The primate species living in colder environments tend to live in larger groups. The ancient ice ages drove the social evolution of these primates, promoting the aggregation of spreading northern odd-nosed monkey species into nested multi-level social forms. During this transition, odd-nosed monkeys exhibited positive selection in many genes related to cold adaptation and the nervous system. “The snub-nosed monkeys seem to have a longer mother-infant bond, which probably increased infant survival in cold environments, The DA/OXT receptors are important neurohormones in mediating social bonding. This signal pathway has been enhanced in odd-nosed monkeys and promoted the social affiliation, cohesion, and cooperation among adults of this species,” Xiao-Guang Qi states. References: “Phylogenomic analyses provide insights into primate evolution” by Yong Shao, Long Zhou, Fang Li, Lan Zhao, Bao-Lin Zhang, Feng Shao, Jia-Wei Chen, Chun-Yan Chen, Xupeng Bi, Xiao-Lin Zhuang, Hong-Liang Zhu, Jiang Hu, Zongyi Sun, Xin Li, Depeng Wang, Iker Rivas-González, Sheng Wang, Yun-Mei Wang, Wu Chen, Gang Li, Hui-Meng Lu, Yang Liu, Lukas F. K. Kuderna, Kyle Kai-How Farh, Peng-Fei Fan, Li Yu, Ming Li, Zhi-Jin Liu, George P. Tiley, Anne D. Yoder, Christian Roos, Takashi Hayakawa, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Jeffrey Rogers, Peter D. Stenson, David N. Cooper, Mikkel Heide Schierup, Yong-Gang Yao, Ya-Ping Zhang, Wen Wang, Xiao-Guang Qi, Guojie Zhang and Dong-Dong Wu, 1 June 2023, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abn6919 “Pervasive incomplete lineage sorting illuminates speciation and selection in primates” by Iker Rivas-González, Marjolaine Rousselle, Fang Li, Long Zhou, Julien Y. Dutheil, Kasper Munch, Yong Shao, Dongdong Wu, Mikkel H. Schierup and Guojie Zhang, 2 June 2023, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abn4409 “Hybrid origin of a primate, the gray snub-nosed monkey” by Hong Wu, Zefu Wang, Yuxing Zhang, Laurent Frantz, Christian Roos, David M. Irwin, Chenglin Zhang, Xuefeng Liu, Dongdong Wu, Song Huang, Tongtong Gu, Jianquan Liu and Li Yu, 2 June 2023, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abl4997 “Adaptations to a cold climate promoted social evolution in Asian colobine primates” by Xiao-Guang Qi, Jinwei Wu, Lan Zhao, Lu Wang, Xuanmin Guang, Paul A. Garber, Christopher Opie, Yuan Yuan, Runjie Diao, Gang Li, Kun Wang, Ruliang Pan, Weihong Ji, Hailu Sun, Zhi-Pang Huang, Chunzhong Xu, Arief B. Witarto, Rui Jia, Chi Zhang, Cheng Deng, Qiang Qiu, Guojie Zhang, Cyril C. Grueter, Dongdong Wu and Baoguo Li, 2 June 2023, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abl8621 “The landscape of tolerated genetic variation in humans and primates” by Hong Gao, Tobias Hamp, Jeffrey Ede, Joshua G. Schraiber, Jeremy McRae, Moriel Singer-Berk, Yanshen Yang, Anastasia S. D. Dietrich, Petko P. Fiziev, Lukas F. K. Kuderna, Laksshman Sundaram, Yibing Wu, Aashish Adhikari, Yair Field, Chen Chen, Serafim Batzoglou, Francois Aguet, Gabrielle Lemire, Rebecca Reimers, Daniel Balick, Mareike C. Janiak, Martin Kuhlwilm, Joseph D. Orkin, Shivakumara Manu, Alejandro Valenzuela, Juraj Bergman, Marjolaine Rousselle, Felipe Ennes Silva, Lidia Agueda, Julie Blanc, Marta Gut, Dorien de Vries, Ian Goodhead, R. Alan Harris, Muthuswamy Raveendran, Axel Jensen, Idriss S. Chuma, Julie E. Horvath, Christina Hvilsom, David Juan, Peter Frandsen, Fabiano R. de Melo, Fabrício Bertuol, Hazel Byrne, Iracilda Sampaio, Izeni Farias, João Valsecchi do Amaral, Mariluce Messias, Maria N. F. da Silva, Mihir Trivedi, Rogerio Rossi, Tomas Hrbek, Nicole Andriaholinirina, Clément J. Rabarivola, Alphonse Zaramody, Clifford J. Jolly, Jane Phillips-Conroy, Gregory Wilkerson, Christian Abee, Joe H. Simmons, Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, Sree Kanthaswamy, Fekadu Shiferaw, Dongdong Wu, Long Zhou, Yong Shao, Guojie Zhang, Julius D. Keyyu, Sascha Knauf, Minh D. Le, Esther Lizano, Stefan Merker, Arcadi Navarro, Thomas Bataillon, Tilo Nadler, Chiea Chuen Khor, Jessica Lee, Patrick Tan, Weng Khong Lim, Andrew C. Kitchener, Dietmar Zinner, Ivo Gut, Amanda Melin, Katerina Guschanski, Mikkel Heide Schierup, Robin M. D. Beck, Govindhaswamy Umapathy, Christian Roos, Jean P. Boubli, Monkol Lek, Shamil Sunyaev, Anne O’Donnell-Luria, Heidi L. Rehm, Jinbo Xu, Jeffrey Rogers, Tomas Marques-Bonet and Kyle Kai-How Farh, 2 June 2023, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abn8197 “A global catalog of whole-genome diversity from 233 primate species” by Lukas F. K. Kuderna, Hong Gao, Mareike C. Janiak, Martin Kuhlwilm, Joseph D. Orkin, Thomas Bataillon, Shivakumara Manu, Alejandro Valenzuela, Juraj Bergman, Marjolaine Rousselle, Felipe Ennes Silva, Lidia Agueda, Julie Blanc, Marta Gut, Dorien de Vries, Ian Goodhead, R. Alan Harris, Muthuswamy Raveendran, Axel Jensen, Idrissa S. Chuma, Julie E. Horvath, Christina Hvilsom, David Juan, Peter Frandsen, Joshua G. Schraiber, Fabiano R. de Melo, Fabrício Bertuol, Hazel Byrne, Iracilda Sampaio, Izeni Farias, João Valsecchi, Malu Messias, Maria N. F. da Silva, Mihir Trivedi, Rogerio Rossi, Tomas Hrbek, Nicole Andriaholinirina, Clément J. Rabarivola, Alphonse Zaramody, Clifford J. Jolly, Jane Phillips-Conroy, Gregory Wilkerson, Christian Abee, Joe H. Simmons, Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, Sree Kanthaswamy, Fekadu Shiferaw, Dongdong Wu, Long Zhou, Yong Shao, Guojie Zhang, Julius D. Keyyu, Sascha Knauf, Minh D. Le, Esther Lizano, Stefan Merker, Arcadi Navarro, Tilo Nadler, Chiea Chuen Khor, Jessica Lee, Patrick Tan, Weng Khong Lim, Andrew C. Kitchener, Dietmar Zinner, Ivo Gut, Amanda D. Melin, Katerina Guschanski, Mikkel Heide Schierup, Robin M. D. Beck, Govindhaswamy Umapathy, Christian Roos, Jean P. Boubli, Jeffrey Rogers, Kyle Kai-How Farh and Tomas Marques Bonet, 1 June 2023, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abn7829 “Genome-wide coancestry reveals details of ancient and recent male-driven reticulation in baboons” by Erik F. Sørensen, R. Alan Harris, Liye Zhang, Muthuswamy Raveendran, Lukas F. K. Kuderna, Jerilyn A. Walker, Jessica M. Storer, Martin Kuhlwilm, Claudia Fontsere, Lakshmi Seshadri, Christina M. Bergey, Andrew S. Burrell, Juraj Bergman, Jane E. Phillips-Conroy, Fekadu Shiferaw, Kenneth L. Chiou, Idrissa S. Chuma, Julius D. Keyyu, Julia Fischer, Marie-Claude Gingras, Sejal Salvi, Harshavardhan Doddapaneni, Mikkel H. Schierup, Mark A. Batzer, Clifford J. Jolly, Sascha Knauf, Dietmar Zinner, Kyle K.-H. Farh, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Kasper Munch, Christian Roos and Jeffrey Rogers, 2 June 2023, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abn8153 “Rare penetrant mutations confer severe risk of common diseases” by Petko P. Fiziev, Jeremy McRae, Jacob C. Ulirsch, Jacqueline S. Dron, Tobias Hamp, Yanshen Yang, Pierrick Wainschtein, Zijian Ni, Joshua G. Schraiber, Hong Gao, Dylan Cable, Yair Field, Francois Aguet, Marc Fasnacht, Ahmed Metwally, Jeffrey Rogers, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Heidi L. Rehm, Anne O’Donnell-Luria, Amit V. Khera and Kyle Kai-How Farh, 2 June 2023, Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.abo1131 “Comparative genomics reveals the hybrid origin of a macaque group” by Bao-Lin Zhang, Wu Chen, Zefu Wang, Wei Pang, Meng-Ting Luo, Sheng Wang, Yong Shao, Wen-Qiang He, Yuan Deng, Long Zhou, Jiawei Chen, Min-Min Yang, Yajiang Wu, Lu Wang, Hugo Fernández-Bellon, Sandra Molloy, Hélène Meunier, Fanélie Wanert, Lukas Kuderna, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Christian Roos, Xiao-Guang Qi, Ming Li, Zhijin Liu, Mikkel Heide Schierup, David N. Cooper, Jianquan Liu, Yong-Tang Zheng, Guojie Zhang and Dong-Dong Wu, 1 June 2023, Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add3580 “Lineage-specific accelerated sequences underlying primate evolution” by Xupeng Bi, Long Zhou, Jin-Jin Zhang, Shaohong Feng, Mei Hu, David N. Cooper, Jiangwei Lin, Jiali Li, Dong-Dong Wu and Guojie Zhang, 1 June 2023, Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adc9507 “Eighty million years of rapid evolution of the primate Y chromosome” by Yang Zhou, Xiaoyu Zhan, Jiazheng Jin, Long Zhou, Juraj Bergman, Xuemei Li, Marjolaine Marie C. Rousselle, Meritxell Riera Belles, Lan Zhao, Miaoquan Fang, Jiawei Chen, Qi Fang, Lukas Kuderna, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Haruka Kitayama, Takashi Hayakawa, Yong-Gang Yao, Huanming Yang, David N. Cooper, Xiaoguang Qi, Dong-Dong Wu, Mikkel Heide Schierup and Guojie Zhang, 2 June 2023, Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01974-x

Side and oral views of a virtual model of the ischnacanthid acanthodian jaw showing the tooth-rows and reconstruction of the tooth replacement. Credit: Martin Rücklin, Naturalis Biodiversity Center The origins of a pretty smile have long been sought in the fearsome jaws of living sharks which have been considered living fossils reflecting the ancestral condition for vertebrate tooth development and inference of its evolution. However, this view ignores real fossils which more accurately reflect the nature of ancient ancestors. New research led by the University of Bristol and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center published in Nature Ecology and Evolution reveals that the dentitions of living shark relatives are entirely unrepresentative of the last shared ancestor of jawed vertebrates. The study reveals that while teeth evolved once, complex dentitions have been gained and lost many times in evolutionary history and tooth replacement in living sharks is not the best model in the search for therapeutic solutions to human dental pathologies. Lead author Martin Rücklin from Naturalis Biodiversity Center in The Netherlands said: “We used high energy x-rays at the TOMCAT beamline of the Swiss Light Source at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland, to study tooth and jaw structure and development among shark ancestors. These ischnacanthid acanthodians possessed marginal dentitions composed of multiple, successional tooth rows, that are quite unlike the tooth whorls that occur in front of the jaw in acanthodians and across the jaws of crown-chondrichthyans.” Virtual section through the ischnacanthid acanthodian jaw showing growth lines and the addition of teeth used to reconstruct the tooth replacement. Credit: Martin Rücklin, Naturalis Biodiversity Center Co-author Professor Philip Donoghue from the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences said: “Dentitions of vertebrates are characterized by an organized arrangement to enable occlusion and efficient feeding over the lifetime of an animal. This organization and pattering of teeth is thought to originate in a universal development mechanism, the dental lamina, seen in sharks. The condition we see in the successional tooth rows cannot be explained by this mechanism.” Co-author Benedict King from Naturalis Biodiversity Center said: “Using state-of-the-art probabilistic ancestral state estimation methods, we build on this discovery to show that teeth existed in the crown-ancestor of gnathostomes, whereas complex dentitions, tooth whorls, a dental lamina, and coordinated replacement, have all evolved independently and been lost several times in the early evolution of jawed vertebrates.” Reference: “Acanthodian dental development and the origin of gnathostome dentitions” by Martin Rücklin, Benedict King, John A. Cunningham, Zerina Johanson, Federica Marone and Philip C. J. Donoghue, 6 May 2021, Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01458-4 This work was supported by the Dutch Research Council NWO (Vidi grant), the Natural Environment Research Council, the Paul Scherrer Institut, EU Horizon2020 and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

New research suggests the Prochlorococcus microbe’s ancient coastal ancestors colonized the ocean by rafting out on chitin particles. Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares/MIT A new study shows that carbon-capturing phytoplankton colonized the ocean by rafting on particles of chitin. MIT researchers found that Prochlorococcus, a vital phytoplankton, likely used chitin from ancient exoskeletons as rafts to venture into open waters, evolving to absorb nearly as much CO2 as terrestrial forests and shaping Earth’s biosphere. Throughout the ocean, billions upon billions of plant-like microbes make up an invisible floating forest. As they drift, the tiny organisms use sunlight to suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Collectively, these photosynthesizing plankton, or phytoplankton, absorb almost as much CO2 as the world’s terrestrial forests. A measurable fraction of their carbon-capturing muscle comes from Prochlorococcus — an emerald-tinged free-floater that is the most abundant phytoplankton in the oceans today. But Prochlorococcus didn’t always inhabit open waters. Ancestors of the microbe likely stuck closer to the coasts, where nutrients were plentiful and organisms survived in communal microbial mats on the seafloor. How then did descendants of these coastal dwellers end up as the photosynthesizing powerhouses of the open oceans today? MIT scientists believe that rafting was the key. In a new study they propose that ancestors of Prochlorococcus acquired an ability to latch onto chitin — the degraded particles of ancient exoskeletons. The microbes hitched a ride on passing flakes, using the particles as rafts to venture further out to sea. These chitin rafts may have also provided essential nutrients, fueling and sustaining the microbes along their journey. Thus fortified, generations of microbes may have then had the opportunity to evolve new abilities to adapt to the open ocean. Eventually, they would have evolved to a point where they could jump ship and survive as the free-floating ocean dwellers that live today. “If Prochlorococcus and other photosynthetic organisms had not colonized the ocean, we would be looking at a very different planet,” says Rogier Braakman, a research scientist in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). “It was the fact they were able to attach to these chitin rafts that enabled them to establish a foothold in an entirely new and massive part of the planet’s biosphere, in a way that changed the Earth forever.” Braakman and his collaborators present their new “chitin raft” hypothesis, along with experiments and genetic analyses supporting the idea, in a study published on May 9 in PNAS. MIT co-authors are Giovanna Capovilla, Greg Fournier, Julia Schwartzman, Xinda Lu, Alexis Yelton, Elaina Thomas, Jack Payette, Kurt Castro, Otto Cordero, and MIT Institute Professor Sallie (Penny) Chisholm, along with colleagues from multiple institutions including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. A Strange Gene Prochlorococcus is one of two main groups belonging to a class known as picocyanobacteria, which are the smallest photosynthesizing organisms on the planet. The other group is Synechococcus, a closely related microbe that can be found abundantly in ocean and freshwater systems. Both organisms make a living through photosynthesis. But it turns out that some strains of Prochlorococcus can adopt alternative lifestyles, particularly in low-lit regions where photosynthesis is difficult to maintain. These microbes are “mixotrophic,” using a mix of other carbon-capturing strategies to grow. Researchers in Chisholm’s lab were looking for signs of mixotrophy when they stumbled on a common gene in several modern strains of Prochlorococcus. The gene encoded the ability to break down chitin, a carbon-rich material that comes from the sloughed-off shells of arthropods, such as insects and crustaceans. “That was very strange,” says Capovilla, who decided to dig deeper into the finding when she joined the lab as a postdoc. For the new study, Capovilla carried out experiments to see whether Prochlorococcus can in fact break down chitin in a useful way. Previous work in the lab showed that the chitin-degrading gene appeared in strains of Prochlorococcus that live in low-light conditions, and in Synechococcus. The gene was missing in Prochlorococcus inhabiting more sunlit regions. In the lab, Capovilla introduced chitin particles into samples of low-light and high-light strains. She found that microbes containing the gene could degrade chitin, and of these, only low-light-adapted Prochlorococcus seemed to benefit from this breakdown, as they appeared to also grow faster as a result. The microbes could also stick to chitin flakes — a result that particularly interested Braakman, who studies the evolution of metabolic processes and the ways they have shaped the Earth’s ecology. “People always ask me: How did these microbes colonize the early ocean?” he says. “And as Gio was doing these experiments, there was this ‘aha’ moment.” Braakman wondered: Could this gene have been present in the ancestors of Prochlorococcus, in a way that allowed coastal microbes to attach to and feed on chitin, and ride the flakes out to sea? It’s All in the Timing To test this new “chitin raft” hypothesis, the team looked to Fournier, who specializes in tracing genes across species of microbes through history. In 2019, Fournier’s lab established an evolutionary tree for those microbes that exhibit the chitin-degrading gene. From this tree, they noticed a trend: Microbes start using chitin only after arthropods become abundant in a particular ecosystem. For the chitin raft hypothesis to hold, the gene would have to be present in ancestors of Prochlorococcus soon after arthropods began to colonize marine environments. The team looked to the fossil record and found that aquatic species of arthropods became abundant in the early Paleozoic, about half a billion years ago. According to Fournier’s evolutionary tree, that also happens to be around the time that the chitin-degrading gene appears in common ancestors of Prochlorococcus and Synecococchus. “The timing is quite solid,” Fournier says. “Marine systems were becoming flooded with this new type of organic carbon in the form of chitin, just as genes for using this carbon spread across all different types of microbes. And the movement of these chitin particles suddenly opened up the opportunity for microbes to really make it out to the open ocean.” The appearance of chitin may have been especially beneficial for microbes living in low-light conditions, such as along the coastal seafloor, where ancient picocyanobacteria are thought to have lived. To these microbes, chitin would have been a much-needed source of energy, as well as a way out of their communal, coastal niche. Braakman says that once out at sea, the rafting microbes were sturdy enough to develop other ocean-dwelling adaptations. Millions of years later, the organisms were then ready to “take the plunge” and evolve into the free-floating, photosynthesizing Prochlorococcus that exist today. “In the end, this is about ecosystems evolving together,” Braakman says. “With these chitin rafts, both arthropods and cyanobacteria were able to expand into the open ocean. Ultimately, this helped to seed the rise of modern marine ecosystems.” Reference: “Chitin utilization by marine picocyanobacteria and the evolution of a planktonic lifestyle” by Giovanna Capovilla, Rogier Braakman, Gregory P. Fournier, Thomas Hackl, Julia Schwartzman, Xinda Lu, Alexis Yelton, Krista Longnecker, Melissa C. Kido Soule, Elaina Thomas, Gretchen Swarr, Alessandro Mongera, Jack G. Payette, Kurt G. Castro, Jacob R. Waldbauer, Elizabeth B. Kujawinski, Otto X. Cordero and Sallie W. Chisholm, 9 May 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2213271120 This research was supported by the Simons Foundation, the EMBO Long-Term Fellowship, and by the Human Frontier Science Program. This paper is a contribution from the Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology (SCOPE).

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