Cai Qingle, Qian Xiaoju, Lang Yongshan, Luo Yadan, Xu Jiaohui, Pan Shengkai, Hui Yuanyuan, Gou Caiyun, Cai Yue, Hao Meirong, Zhao Jinyang, Wang Songbo, Wang Zhaobao, Zhang Xinming, He Rongjun, Liu Jinchao, Luo Longhai, Li Yingrui, Wang Jun
Genome Biol. 2013 Mar 28;14(3):R29. doi: 10.1186/gb-2013-14-3-r29.
The mechanism of high-altitude adaptation has been studied in certain mammals. However, in avian species like the ground tit Pseudopodoces humilis, the adaptation mechanism remains unclear. The phylogeny of the ground tit is also controversial.
Using next generation sequencing technology, we generated and assembled a draft genome sequence of the ground tit. The assembly contained 1.04 Gb of sequence that covered 95.4% of the whole genome and had higher N50 values, at the level of both scaffolds and contigs, than other sequenced avian genomes. About 1.7 million SNPs were detected, 16,998 protein-coding genes were predicted and 7% of the genome was identified as repeat sequences. Comparisons between the ground tit genome and other avian genomes revealed a conserved genome structure and confirmed the phylogeny of ground tit as not belonging to the Corvidae family. Gene family expansion and positively selected gene analysis revealed genes that were related to cardiac function. Our findings contribute to our understanding of the adaptation of this species to extreme environmental living conditions.
Our data and analysis contribute to the study of avian evolutionary history and provide new insights into the adaptation mechanisms to extreme conditions in animals.
已经在某些哺乳动物中研究了高原适应机制。然而，对于像地山雀（Pseudopodoces humilis）这样的鸟类物种，其适应机制仍不清楚。地山雀的系统发育也存在争议。
利用新一代测序技术，我们生成并组装了地山雀的基因组草图序列。该组装包含1.04 Gb的序列，覆盖了全基因组的95.4%，并且在支架和重叠群水平上，其N50值均高于其他已测序的鸟类基因组。检测到约170万个单核苷酸多态性（SNP），预测了16998个蛋白质编码基因，并且基因组的7%被鉴定为重复序列。地山雀基因组与其他鸟类基因组之间的比较揭示了保守的基因组结构，并证实了地山雀不属于鸦科的系统发育关系。基因家族扩展和正选择基因分析揭示了与心脏功能相关的基因。我们的发现有助于我们理解该物种对极端环境生存条件的适应。
我们的数据和分析有助于鸟类进化历史的研究，并为动物对极端条件的适应机制提供了新的见解。
