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Ancient DNA analyses reveal contrasting phylogeographic patterns amongst kiwi (Apteryx spp.) and a recently extinct lineage of spotted kiwi.

ABSTRACT: The little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii) is a flightless ratite formerly found throughout New Zealand but now greatly reduced in distribution. Previous phylogeographic studies of the related brown kiwi (A. mantelli, A. rowi and A. australis), with which little spotted kiwi was once sympatric, revealed extremely high levels of genetic structuring, with mitochondrial DNA haplotypes often restricted to populations. We surveyed genetic variation throughout the present and pre-human range of little spotted kiwi by obtaining mitochondrial DNA sequences from contemporary and ancient samples. Little spotted kiwi and great spotted kiwi (A. haastii) formed a monophyletic clade sister to brown kiwi. Ancient samples of little spotted kiwi from the northern North Island, where it is now extinct, formed a lineage that was distinct from remaining little spotted kiwi and great spotted kiwi lineages, potentially indicating unrecognized taxonomic diversity. Overall, little spotted kiwi exhibited much lower levels of genetic diversity and structuring than brown kiwi, particularly through the South Island. Our results also indicate that little spotted kiwi (or at least hybrids involving this species) survived on the South Island mainland until more recently than previously thought.

SUBMITTER: Shepherd LD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3410920 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Ancient DNA analyses reveal contrasting phylogeographic patterns amongst kiwi (Apteryx spp.) and a recently extinct lineage of spotted kiwi.

Shepherd Lara D LD Worthy Trevor H TH Tennyson Alan J D AJ Scofield R Paul RP Ramstad Kristina M KM Lambert David M DM

PloS one 20120802 8

The little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii) is a flightless ratite formerly found throughout New Zealand but now greatly reduced in distribution. Previous phylogeographic studies of the related brown kiwi (A. mantelli, A. rowi and A. australis), with which little spotted kiwi was once sympatric, revealed extremely high levels of genetic structuring, with mitochondrial DNA haplotypes often restricted to populations. We surveyed genetic variation throughout the present and pre-human range of little s ...[more]

PMID: 22876319

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Project description:BackgroundKiwi represent the most basal extant avian lineage (paleognaths) and exhibit biological attributes that are unusual or extreme among living birds, such as large egg size, strong olfaction, nocturnality, flightlessness and long lifespan. Despite intense interest in their evolution and their threatened status, genomic resources for kiwi were virtually non-existent until the recent publication of a single genome. Here we present the most comprehensive kiwi transcriptomes to date, obtained via Illumina sequencing of whole blood and de novo assembly of mRNA sequences of eight individuals from each of the two rarest kiwi species, little spotted kiwi (LSK; Apteryx owenii) and rowi (A. rowi).ResultsSequences obtained were orthologous with a wide diversity of functional genes despite the sequencing of a single tissue type. Individual and composite assemblies contain more than 7900 unique protein coding transcripts in each of LSK and rowi that show strong homology with chicken (Gallus gallus), including those associated with growth, development, disease resistance, reproduction and behavior. The assemblies also contain 66,909 SNPs that distinguish between LSK and rowi, 12,384 SNPs among LSK (associated with 3088 genes), and 29,313 SNPs among rowi (associated with 4953 genes). We found 3084 transcripts differentially expressed between LSK and rowi and 150 transcripts differentially expressed between the sexes. Of the latter, 83 could be mapped to chicken chromosomes with 95% syntenic with chromosome Z.ConclusionsOur study has simultaneously sequenced multiple species, sexes, and individual kiwi at thousands of genes, and thus represents a significant leap forward in genomic resources available for kiwi. The expression pattern we observed among chromosome Z related genes in kiwi is similar to that observed in ostriches and emu, suggesting a common and ancestral pattern of sex chromosome homomorphy, recombination, and gene dosage among living paleognaths. The transcriptome assemblies described here will provide a rich resource for polymorphic marker development and studies of adaptation of these highly unusual and endangered birds.

Dataset Information

Ancient DNA analyses reveal contrasting phylogeographic patterns amongst kiwi (Apteryx spp.) and a recently extinct lineage of spotted kiwi.

Publications

Ancient DNA analyses reveal contrasting phylogeographic patterns amongst kiwi (Apteryx spp.) and a recently extinct lineage of spotted kiwi.

Similar Datasets

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