Ancient and modern genomes unravel the evolutionary history of the rhinoceros family.
Cell
; 184(19): 4874-4885.e16, 2021 09 16.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34433011
ABSTRACT
Only five species of the once-diverse Rhinocerotidae remain, making the reconstruction of their evolutionary history a challenge to biologists since Darwin. We sequenced genomes from five rhinoceros species (three extinct and two living), which we compared to existing data from the remaining three living species and a range of outgroups. We identify an early divergence between extant African and Eurasian lineages, resolving a key debate regarding the phylogeny of extant rhinoceroses. This early Miocene (â¼16 million years ago [mya]) split post-dates the land bridge formation between the Afro-Arabian and Eurasian landmasses. Our analyses also show that while rhinoceros genomes in general exhibit low levels of genome-wide diversity, heterozygosity is lowest and inbreeding is highest in the modern species. These results suggest that while low genetic diversity is a long-term feature of the family, it has been particularly exacerbated recently, likely reflecting recent anthropogenic-driven population declines.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Perissodáctilos
/
Genoma
/
Evolução Molecular
Tipo de estudo:
Health_economic_evaluation
/
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article