Dataset Information

Temporal Dynamics of Avian Populations during Pleistocene Revealed by Whole-Genome Sequences.

ABSTRACT: Global climate fluctuations have significantly influenced the distribution and abundance of biodiversity. During unfavorable glacial periods, many species experienced range contraction and fragmentation, expanding again during interglacials. An understanding of the evolutionary consequences of both historical and ongoing climate changes requires knowledge of the temporal dynamics of population numbers during such climate cycles. Variation in abundance should have left clear signatures in the patterns of intraspecific genetic variation in extant species, from which historical effective population sizes (N(e)) can be estimated. We analyzed whole-genome sequences of 38 avian species in a pairwise sequentially Markovian coalescent (PSMC, [5]) framework to quantitatively reveal changes in N(e) from approximately 10 million to 10 thousand years ago. Significant fluctuations in N(e) over time were evident for most species. The most pronounced pattern observed in many species was a severe reduction in N(e) coinciding with the beginning of the last glacial period (LGP). Among species, N(e) varied by at least three orders of magnitude, exceeding 1 million in the most abundant species. Several species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species showed long-term reduction in population size, predating recent declines. We conclude that cycles of population expansions and contractions have been a common feature of many bird species during the Quaternary period, likely coinciding with climate cycles. Population size reduction should have increased the risk of extinction but may also have promoted speciation. Species that have experienced long-term declines may be especially vulnerable to recent anthropogenic threats.

SUBMITTER: Nadachowska-Brzyska K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4446789 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Temporal Dynamics of Avian Populations during Pleistocene Revealed by Whole-Genome Sequences.

Nadachowska-Brzyska Krystyna K Li Cai C Smeds Linnea L Zhang Guojie G Ellegren Hans H

Current biology : CB 20150416 10

Global climate fluctuations have significantly influenced the distribution and abundance of biodiversity. During unfavorable glacial periods, many species experienced range contraction and fragmentation, expanding again during interglacials. An understanding of the evolutionary consequences of both historical and ongoing climate changes requires knowledge of the temporal dynamics of population numbers during such climate cycles. Variation in abundance should have left clear signatures in the pat ...[more]

PMID: 25891404

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Project description:Global climatic fluctuations governed the ancestral demographic histories of species and contributed to place the current population status into a more extensive ecological and evolutionary context. Genetic variations will leave unambiguous signatures in the patterns of intraspecific genetic variation in extant species since the genome of each individual is an imperfect mosaic of the ancestral genomes. Here, we report the genome sequences of 20 Branchiostoma individuals by whole-genome resequencing strategy. We detected over 140 million genomic variations for each Branchiostoma individual. In particular, we applied the pairwise sequentially Markovian coalescent (PSMC) method to estimate the trajectories of changes in the effective population size (N e) of Branchiostoma population during the Pleistocene. We evaluated the threshold of sequencing depth for proper inference of demographic histories using PSMC was ≥25×. The PSMC results highlight the role of historical global climatic fluctuations in the long-term population dynamics of Branchiostoma. The inferred ancestral N e of the Branchiostoma belcheri populations from Zhanjiang and Xiamen (China) seawaters was different in amplitude before the first (mutation rate = 3 × 10-9) or third glaciation (mutation rate = 9 × 10-9) of the Pleistocene, indicating that the two populations most probably started to evolve in isolation in their respective seas after the first or third glaciation of the Pleistocene. A pronounced population bottleneck coinciding with the last glacial maximum was observed in all Branchiostoma individuals, followed by a population expansion occurred during the late Pleistocene. Species that have experienced long-term declines may be especially vulnerable to recent anthropogenic activities. Recently, the industrial pollution and the exploitation of sea sand have destroyed the harmonious living environment of amphioxus species. In the future, we need to protect the habitat of Branchiostoma and make full use of these detected genetic variations to facilitate the functional study of Branchiostoma for adaptation to local environments.

Project description:BackgroundDomestication and improvement processes, accompanied by selections and adaptations, have generated genome-wide divergence and stratification in soybean populations. Simultaneously, soybean populations, which comprise diverse subpopulations, have developed their own adaptive characteristics enhancing fitness, resistance, agronomic traits, and morphological features. The genetic traits underlying these characteristics play a fundamental role in improving other soybean populations.ResultsThis study focused on identifying the selection signatures and adaptive characteristics in soybean populations. A core set of 245 accessions (112 wild-type, 79 landrace, and 54 improvement soybeans) selected from 4,234 soybean accessions was re-sequenced. Their genomic architectures were examined according to the domestication and improvement, and accessions were then classified into 3 wild-type, 2 landrace, and 2 improvement subgroups based on various population analyses. Selection and gene set enrichment analyses revealed that the landrace subgroups have selection signals for soybean-cyst nematode HG type 0 and seed development with germination, and that the improvement subgroups have selection signals for plant development with viability and seed development with embryo development, respectively. The adaptive characteristic for soybean-cyst nematode was partially underpinned by multiple resistance accessions, and the characteristics related to seed development were supported by our phenotypic findings for seed weights. Furthermore, their adaptive characteristics were also confirmed as genome-based evidence, and unique genomic regions that exhibit distinct selection and selective sweep patterns were revealed for 13 candidate genes.ConclusionsAlthough our findings require further biological validation, they provide valuable information about soybean breeding strategies and present new options for breeders seeking donor lines to improve soybean populations.

Dataset Information

Temporal Dynamics of Avian Populations during Pleistocene Revealed by Whole-Genome Sequences.

Publications

Temporal Dynamics of Avian Populations during Pleistocene Revealed by Whole-Genome Sequences.

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