College of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, China.
State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
Genome Biol Evol. 2020 Mar 1;12(3):59-65. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evaa029.
Members of genus Martes provide early warning signals about forest ecosystem health and are designated as a Management Indicator Species. As one of the most widespread members in Martes, the sable (Martes zibellina) is a circumboreal small predator found throughout all taiga zoogeographical zones of Eurasia and shows distinct population differentiation and morphological variations. To support further studies on striking local adaptation and population evolution, we present the first sable genome, assembled de novo from an individual originating in the Great Khingan Mountains (China). The assembled genome is 2.42 Gb, consisting of 15,814 scaffolds with a scaffold N50 of 5.20 Mb. Searches for complete Mammalia BUSCO (Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Ortholog) gene groups found that 95.15% of the curated single-copy orthologs were assembled as complete, suggesting a high level of completeness of the genome. We totally predicted 19,413 protein-coding genes, and 0.82 Gb of repeat sequences was annotated. We also detected 1,257 olfactory receptor genes and found more functional olfactory receptor genes in sable than in other Mustelidae species, which provide a possible genetic explanation for the acute sense of smell of the sable for searching the preys under deep snow. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the ferret (Mustela putorius furo) and sea otter (Enhydra lutris) form a clade that is sister to the sable, which was dated ∼16.4 Ma. Overall, our study provided the first reference genome for research in a broad range of areas including local adaptations, population evolution, conservation, and management for sable.
貂属成员为森林生态系统健康提供早期预警信号，被指定为管理指示物种。作为貂属中分布最广的成员之一，紫貂（Martes zibellina）是一种分布广泛的小型捕食者，遍布欧亚大陆所有的泰加林动物地理区，并表现出明显的种群分化和形态变异。为了支持对显著的局部适应和种群进化的进一步研究，我们提供了第一个貂基因组，该基因组从头组装自一个来自大兴安岭（中国）的个体。组装的基因组大小为 24.2 亿碱基对，由 15814 个支架组成，支架 N50 为 5.20 兆碱基对。对完整哺乳动物 BUSCO（基准通用单拷贝同源物）基因组的搜索发现，95.15%的经校对的单拷贝同源物被组装为完整的，这表明基因组的完整性水平很高。我们总共预测了 19413 个蛋白质编码基因，注释了 0.82 亿碱基对的重复序列。我们还检测到 1257 个嗅觉受体基因，并发现紫貂比其他鼬科物种拥有更多的功能嗅觉受体基因，这为紫貂在深雪中寻找猎物时敏锐的嗅觉提供了一个可能的遗传解释。系统发育分析表明，雪貂（Mustela putorius furo）和海獭（Enhydra lutris）形成一个分支，与紫貂形成姐妹群，这一分支的形成时间约为 1640 万年前。总的来说，我们的研究为包括局部适应、种群进化、保护和管理在内的广泛领域的研究提供了第一个参考基因组。
