The Genome of the "Great Speciator" Provides Insights into Bird Diversification.

ABSTRACT: Among birds, white-eyes (genus Zosterops) have diversified so extensively that Jared Diamond and Ernst Mayr referred to them as the "great speciator." The Zosterops lineage exhibits some of the fastest rates of species diversification among vertebrates, and its members are the most prolific passerine island colonizers. We present a high-quality genome assembly for the silvereye (Zosterops lateralis), a white-eye species consisting of several subspecies distributed across multiple islands. We investigate the genetic basis of rapid diversification in white-eyes by conducting genomic analyses at varying taxonomic levels. First, we compare the silvereye genome with those of birds from different families and searched for genomic features that may be unique to Zosterops. Second, we compare the g

SUBMITTER: Cornetti L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4607525 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature