[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Topological mixing and irreversibility in animal chromosome evolution

## Details

**Authors** Schultz et al.

**Year** 2026

**Publisher** Science Advances

**Discipline** Evolutionary Biology

**Secondary disciplines** Genetics

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adz5561) 
10.1126/sciadv.adz5561

## In authors' words

### What they found (results)

Comparing more than 5,800 chromosome-scale genomes across 4,454 species and 19 phyla, fusion events that intermix gene content proved irreversible, leaving permanent one-way markers, with lineages clustering into distinct regions of a genome-architecture space.

## Commentary

### In short

Chromosomal fusion events combine parts into new irreversible wholes, showing composition (S) is gated by a one-way category boundary (D).

**Patterns it shows** D, S

**Added** 2026-08-28

**How to cite this** Schultz et al. (2026). Topological mixing and irreversibility in animal chromosome evolution. Science Advances.