BGI-Shenzhen, Beishan Industrial Zone, Yantian District, Shenzhen 518083, China.
State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
Gigascience. 2019 Sep 1;8(9). doi: 10.1093/gigascience/giz117.
Penguins (Sphenisciformes) are a remarkable order of flightless wing-propelled diving seabirds distributed widely across the southern hemisphere. They share a volant common ancestor with Procellariiformes close to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (66 million years ago) and subsequently lost the ability to fly but enhanced their diving capabilities. With ∼20 species among 6 genera, penguins range from the tropical Galápagos Islands to the oceanic temperate forests of New Zealand, the rocky coastlines of the sub-Antarctic islands, and the sea ice around Antarctica. To inhabit such diverse and extreme environments, penguins evolved many physiological and morphological adaptations. However, they are also highly sensitive to climate change. Therefore, penguins provide an exciting target system for understanding the evolutionary processes of speciation, adaptation, and demography. Genomic data are an emerging resource for addressing questions about such processes.
Here we present a novel dataset of 19 high-coverage genomes that, together with 2 previously published genomes, encompass all extant penguin species. We also present a well-supported phylogeny to clarify the relationships among penguins. In contrast to recent studies, our results demonstrate that the genus Aptenodytes is basal and sister to all other extant penguin genera, providing intriguing new insights into the adaptation of penguins to Antarctica. As such, our dataset provides a novel resource for understanding the evolutionary history of penguins as a clade, as well as the fine-scale relationships of individual penguin lineages. Against this background, we introduce a major consortium of international scientists dedicated to studying these genomes. Moreover, we highlight emerging issues regarding ensuring legal and respectful indigenous consultation, particularly for genomic data originating from New Zealand Taonga species.
We believe that our dataset and project will be important for understanding evolution, increasing cultural heritage and guiding the conservation of this iconic southern hemisphere species assemblage.
企鹅（Sphenisciformes）是一种非凡的不会飞的翼驱动潜水海鸟，广泛分布在南半球。它们与接近白垩纪-古近纪边界（6600 万年前）的 Procellariiformes 共享一个会飞的共同祖先，随后失去了飞行能力，但增强了潜水能力。企鹅有 6 个属中的约 20 个物种，分布范围从热带加拉帕戈斯群岛到新西兰的海洋温带森林、亚南极岛屿的多岩石海岸线和南极洲周围的海冰。为了栖息在如此多样和极端的环境中，企鹅进化出了许多生理和形态适应。然而，它们也对气候变化高度敏感。因此，企鹅为理解物种形成、适应和人口统计学的进化过程提供了一个令人兴奋的目标系统。基因组数据是解决这些过程相关问题的新兴资源。
我们在这里提供了 19 个高覆盖率基因组的新数据集，其中包括 2 个之前发表的基因组，涵盖了所有现存的企鹅物种。我们还提出了一个支持度高的系统发育树来澄清企鹅之间的关系。与最近的研究结果不同，我们的结果表明，阿德利企鹅属是最基础的，是所有其他现存企鹅属的姐妹属，这为企鹅适应南极洲提供了有趣的新见解。因此，我们的数据集为理解企鹅作为一个分支的进化历史以及单个企鹅谱系的精细关系提供了一个新的资源。在此背景下，我们引入了一个由国际科学家组成的大型联盟，致力于研究这些基因组。此外，我们强调了在确保合法和尊重土著咨询方面出现的新问题，特别是对于源自新西兰塔翁加物种的基因组数据。
我们相信，我们的数据集和项目对于理解进化、增加文化遗产和指导这些标志性的南半球物种组合的保护将是重要的。
