| Literature DB >> 29112761 |
Yongzhi Yang1, Yutao Wang2,3, Yue Zhao4, Xiuying Zhang2,3, Ran Li4, Lei Chen1, Guojie Zhang5, Yu Jiang4, Qiang Qiu1, Wen Wang1, Hong-Jiang Wei6, Kun Wang1.
Abstract
Background: The Marco Polo Sheep (Ovis ammon polii), a subspecies of argali (Ovis ammon) that is distributed mainly in the Pamir Mountains, provides a mammalian model to study high altitude adaptation mechanisms. Due to over-hunting and subsistence poaching, as well as competition with livestock and habitat loss, O. ammon has been categorized as an endangered species on several lists. It can have fertile offspring with sheep. Hence, a high-quality reference genome of the Marco Polo Sheep will be very helpful in conservation genetics and even in exploiting useful genes in sheep breeding. Findings: A total of 1022.43 Gb of raw reads resulting from whole-genome sequencing of a Marco Polo Sheep were generated using an Illumina HiSeq2000 platform. The final genome assembly (2.71 Gb) has an N50 contig size of 30.7 Kb and a scaffold N50 of 5.49 Mb. The repeat sequences identified account for 46.72% of the genome, and 20 336 protein-coding genes were predicted from the masked genome. Phylogenetic analysis indicated a close relationship between Marco Polo Sheep and the domesticated sheep, and the time of their divergence was approximately 2.36 million years ago. We identified 271 expanded gene families and 168 putative positively selected genes in the Marco Polo Sheep lineage. Conclusions: We provide the first genome sequence and gene annotation for the Marco Polo Sheep. The availability of these resources will be of value in the future conservation of this endangered large mammal, for research into high altitude adaptation mechanisms, for reconstructing the evolutionary history of the Caprinae, and for the future conservation of the Marco Polo Sheep.Entities:
Keywords: Marco Polo Sheep; annotation; evolution; genome assembly
Mesh:
Year: 2017 PMID: 29112761 PMCID: PMC5740985 DOI: 10.1093/gigascience/gix106
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Gigascience ISSN: 2047-217X Impact factor: 6.524
Figure 1:Phylogenetic relationships and genomic comparisons between Marco Polo Sheep and other mammals. (a) Divergence time estimates for the 9 mammals generated using MCMCtree and the 4-fold degenerate sites. The red dots correspond to calibration points and the divergence times. Divergence time estimates (Mya) are indicated above the appropriate nodes; blue nodal bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. Gene orthology was determined by comparing the genomes with the OrthoMCL software. (b) A Venn diagram of the shared orthologues among Marco Polo Sheep, sheep, goat, taurine cattle, and horse. Each number represents a gene family number. (c) The box plot shows the ratio of non-synonymous to synonymous mutations (Ka/Ks) for Marco Polo Sheep, sheep, goat, taurine cattle, horse, and human.