Large-scale ruminant genome sequencing provides insights into their evolution and distinct traits

Lei Chen, Qiang Qiu, Yu Jiang, Kun Wang, Zeshan Lin, Zhipeng Li, Faysal Bibi, Yongzhi Yang, Jinhuan Wang, Wenhui Nie, Weiting Su, Guichun Liu, Qiye Li, Weiwei Fu, Xiangyu Pan, Chang Liu, Jie Yang, Chenzhou Zhang, Yuan Yin, Yu WangYue Zhao, Chen Zhang, Zhongkai Wang, Yanli Qin, Wei Liu, Bao Wang, Yandong Ren, Ru Zhang, Yan Zeng, Rute R. Da Fonseca, Bin Wei, Ran Li, Wenting Wan, Ruoping Zhao, Wenbo Zhu, Yutao Wang, Shengchang Duan, Yun Gao, Yong E. Zhang, Chunyan Chen, Christina Hvilsom, Clinton W. Epps, Leona G. Chemnick, Yang Dong, Siavash Mirarab, Hans Redlef Siegismund, Oliver A. Ryder, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Harris A. Lewin, Guojie Zhang, Rasmus Heller, Wen Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

300 Scopus citations

Abstract

The ruminants are one of the most successful mammalian lineages, exhibiting morphological and habitat diversity and containing several key livestock species. To better understand their evolution, we generated and analyzed de novo assembled genomes of 44 ruminant species, representing all six Ruminantia families. We used these genomes to create a time-calibrated phylogeny to resolve topological controversies, overcoming the challenges of incomplete lineage sorting. Population dynamic analyses show that population declines commenced between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago, which is concomitant with expansion in human populations. We also reveal genes and regulatory elements that possibly contribute to the evolution of the digestive system, cranial appendages, immune system, metabolism, body size, cursorial locomotion, and dentition of the ruminants.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbereaav6202
JournalScience
Volume364
Issue number6446
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

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