Project description:The fishes, which have currently named Aphanius Nardo, 1827 are the relict of the ancient ichthyofauna of the Tethys Sea. For a long time since 1827, the genus name has been subjected to revision by several researchers using mainly morphological features. Until recently, no comprehensive single- or multi-locus DNA barcoding study has been conducted on whole members of the family Aphaniidae. In the present study, by applying four conceptually different molecular species delimitation methods, including one distance-based method, one network-based and two topology-based methods, we examined a single-locus DNA barcode library (COI) diversity for the 268 sequences within the family Aphaniidae from the Old World (57 sequences are new in the present study and 211 sequences were retrieved from NCBI database). The molecular analyses revealed a clearer picture of intra-family relationships and allowed us to clarify the generic names, and also describe a new genus for the family Aphaniidae. Results supported distinction of three major clades related to three genera within this family: i) the first clade includes the A. mento group which are placed in a new genus, Paraphanius gen. nov., found in the Orontes (= Asi) and Tigris-Euphrates River drainage, the Levant in coastal waters and the Dead Sea basin, western Jordan, and in southern Turkey in the Mediterranean basins as well as in central Turkey. This clade positioned at the base of the phylogenetic tree, (ii) the second clade contains the A. dispar-like brackish water tooth-carps which are transferred to the genus Aphaniops Hoedeman, 1951 (type species, Lebias dispar), distributed in the coastal waters around the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf basins; and (iii) the third clade, the genus Aphanius Nardo, 1827 (type species Aphanius nanus = A. fasciatus) contains all the inland and inland-related tooth-carps, which are mainly distributed in the inland waters in Turkey and Iran and also in the inland-related drainages around the Mediterranean basin.
Project description:The genetic structure of some native Bolivians has been substantially influenced by admixture from Europeans, which we estimate to have occurred approximately 360 – 384 years ago. Consistent with historical accounts of male admixture, Y-chromosome haplogroups typical of Europeans were found in 39% of our Bolivian samples. No evidence of African admixture was found in native Bolivians. The Mesoamerican Totonacs have little evidence of European or African admixture. Our analysis indicates that some admixed Bolivians have Native American mtDNA and Y-chromosomes but harbor up to 30% European autosomal ancestry, demonstrating the need for autosomal markers to assess ancestry in admixed populations. From a dense genome-wide panel of 815,377 markers, we developed a set of 324 AIMs, specific for Native American ancestry. As few a 40-50 of these markers successfully predict New World ancestry in the ascertainment panel of Bolivians and Totonacs. The markers easily distinguish New World from Old World ancestry, even for populations more closely related to the Americas such as central and eastern Asians, and were effective for New World vs. Old World comparisons in five other geographically and culturally distinct populations of the Americas. SNPs demonstrating very high divergence between the two Native American populations and major Old World populations are found on haplotypes that are shared and occur at similar frequencies in other indigenous low-admixture American populations examined here (i.e. Pima, Maya, Colombian, Karitiana, and Surui). After excluding the possibility of recent relatedness, our results indicate that native Bolivians and Totonacs share ancestry with other American populations through a substantial contribution from a common founding population, population bottlenecks, and possible natural selection on functional variation.
Project description:Species identification of fragmentary bones remains a challenging task in archeology and forensics. A species identification method for such fragmentary bones that has recently attracted interest is the use of bone collagen proteins. We developed a method similar to DNA barcoding that reads collagen protein sequences in bone and automatically determines the species by performing sequence database searches. We tested our method using bone samples from 30 vertebrate species ranging from mammals to fish.
Project description:ObjectiveOld World camels are a valuable genetic resource for many countries around the world due to their adaptation to the desert environment. At present, Old World camels have encountered the challenge of unprecedented loss of genetic resources. Through our research, we would reveal the population structure and genetic variation in Old World camel populations, which provides a theoretical basis for understanding the germplasm resources and origin and evolution of different Old World camel populations.MethodsIn the present study, we assessed mtDNA control region sequences of 182 individuals from Old World camels to unravel genetic diversity, phylogeography, and demographic dynamics.ResultsThirty-two haplotypes confirmed by 54 polymorphic sites were identified in the 156 sequences, which included 129 domestic and 27 wild Bactrian camels. Meanwhile, 14 haplotypes were defined by 47 polymorphic sites from 26 sequences in the dromedaries. The wild Bactrian camel population showed the lowest haplotype and nucleotide diversity, while the dromedaries investigated had the highest. The phylogenetic analysis suggests that there are several shared haplotypes in different Bactrian camel populations, and that there has been genetic introgression between domestic Bactrian camels and dromedaries. In addition, positive values of Tajima's D and Fu's Fs test demonstrated a decrease in population size and/or balancing selection in the wild Bactrian camel population. In contrast, the negative values of Tajima's D and Fu's Fs test in East Asian Bactrian camel populations explained the demographic expansion and/or positive selection.ConclusionIn summary, we report novel information regarding the genetic diversity, population structure and demographic dynamics of Old World camels. The findings obtained from the present study reveal that abundant genetic diversity occurs in domestic Bactrian camel populations and dromedaries, while there are low levels of haplotype and nucleotide diversity in the wild Bactrian camel population.