Genomic Analyses of Unveil Helmeted Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris) Domestication in West Africa.

ABSTRACT: Domestication of the helmeted guinea fowl (HGF; Numida meleagris) in Africa remains elusive. Here we report a high-quality de novo genome assembly for domestic HGF generated by long- and short-reads sequencing together with optical and chromatin interaction mapping. Using this assembly as the reference, we performed population genomic analyses for newly sequenced whole-genomes for 129 birds from Africa, Asia, and Europe, including domestic animals (n = 89), wild progenitors (n = 34), and their closely related wild species (n = 6). Our results reveal domestication of HGF in West Africa around 1,300-5,500 years ago. Scanning for selective signals characterized the functional genes in behavior and locomotion changes involved in domestication of HGF. The pleiotropy and linkage in genes affecti

SUBMITTER: Shen QK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8214406 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature