Pangolin Genomes Offer Key Insights and Resources for the World's Most Trafficked Wild Mammals.

ABSTRACT: Pangolins form a group of scaly mammals that are trafficked at record numbers for their meat and purported medicinal properties. Despite their conservation concern, knowledge of their evolution is limited by a paucity of genomic data. We aim to produce exhaustive genomic resources that include 3,238 orthologous genes and whole-genome polymorphisms to assess the evolution of all eight extant pangolin species. Robust orthologous gene-based phylogenies recovered the monophyly of the three genera and highlighted the existence of an undescribed species closely related to Southeast Asian pangolins. Signatures of middle Miocene admixture between an extinct, possibly European, lineage and the ancestor of Southeast Asian pangolins, provide new insights into the early evolutionary history of the gro

SUBMITTER: Heighton SP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10551234 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature