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| Current biology : CB. 2019 Dec 12. pii: S0960-9822(19)31438-1. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.066 |
| Evolutionary History, Genomic Adaptation to Toxic Diet, and Extinction of the Carolina Parakeet. |
| Gelabert P1, Sandoval-Velasco M2, Serres A3, de Manuel M4, Renom P5, Margaryan A6, Stiller J7, de-Dios T8, Fang Q9, Feng S10, Mañosa S11, Pacheco G12, Ferrando-Bernal M13, Shi G14, Hao F15, Chen X16, Petersen B17, Olsen RA18, Navarro A19, Deng Y20, Dalén L21, Marquès-Bonet T22, Zhang G23, Antunes A24, Gilbert MTP25, Lalueza-Fox C26 |
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Abstract As the only endemic neotropical parrot to have recently lived in the northern hemisphere, the Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) was an iconic North American bird. The last surviving specimen died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918 [1]. The cause of its extinction remains contentious: besides excessive mortality associated to habitat destruction and active hunting, their survival could have been negatively affected by its range having become increasingly patchy [2] or by the exposure to poultry pathogens [3, 4]. In addition, the Carolina parakeet showed a predilection for cockleburs, an herbaceous plant that contains a powerful toxin, carboxyatractyloside, or CAT [5], which did not seem to affect them but made the birds notoriously toxic to most predators [3]. To explore the demographic history of this bird, we generated the complete genomic sequence of a preserved specimen held in a private collection in Espinelves (Girona, Spain), as well as of a close extant relative, Aratinga solstitialis. We identified two non-synonymous genetic changes in two highly conserved proteins known to interact with CAT that could underlie a specific dietary adaptation to this toxin. Our genomic analyses did not reveal evidence of a dramatic past demographic decline in the Carolina parakeet; also, its genome did not exhibit the long runs of homozygosity that are signals of recent inbreeding and are typically found in endangered species. As such, our results suggest its extinction was an abrupt process and thus likely solely attributable to human causes. |
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Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved. |
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KEYWORDS: ancient genomics, extinction, ornithology, population genomics, toxic diet |
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Publikations ID: 31839456 Quelle: öffnen |
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