State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Yunnan Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Domestic Animals, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
Mol Biol Evol. 2018 Jan 1;35(1):149-158. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msx276.
The geographic origin and migration of the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) remain subjects of considerable debate. In this study, we sequenced whole genomes of 110 wild brown rats with a diverse world-wide representation. We reveal that brown rats migrated out of southern East Asia, rather than northern Asia as formerly suggested, into the Middle East and then to Europe and Africa, thousands of years ago. Comparison of genomes from different geographical populations reveals that many genes involved in the immune system experienced positive selection in the wild brown rat.
褐家鼠（Rattus norvegicus）的地理起源和迁徙一直是颇具争议的话题。在这项研究中，我们对 110 只具有广泛世界代表性的野生褐家鼠进行了全基因组测序。研究结果表明，数千年前，褐家鼠从东亚南部而非以前认为的亚洲北部迁徙到中东，然后进入欧洲和非洲。对不同地理种群基因组的比较表明，许多参与免疫系统的基因在野生褐家鼠中经历了正选择。
