地山雀（Parushumilis）是青藏高原的特有鳥種,，屬山雀科鳥類,。由于其形態(tài)特征與地鴉相近，曾長(zhǎng)期被認(rèn)為是鴉科鳥類,，并被命名為“褐背擬地鴉”,。
中科院動(dòng)物研究所動(dòng)物進(jìn)化與系統(tǒng)學(xué)院重點(diǎn)實(shí)驗(yàn)室雷富民研究員領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的鳥類學(xué)研究組與諾禾致源合作，對(duì)地山雀開展全基因組denovo測(cè)序,，同時(shí)對(duì)另外兩種山雀（大山雀和黃頰山雀）以及黑尾地鴉進(jìn)行了重測(cè)序比較分析,。研究結(jié)果從基因組水平進(jìn)一步確證了地山雀是“山雀”而非“鴉”的分類地位，并初步揭示了該物種適應(yīng)青藏高原極端環(huán)境的遺傳印跡,。
結(jié)果顯示,，地山雀與黃頰山雀、大山雀的親緣關(guān)系很近,，估算分化時(shí)間在7.7-9.9個(gè)百萬(wàn)年之間,。通過與原雞,、火雞和斑胸草雀的基因組數(shù)據(jù)比較，發(fā)現(xiàn)地山雀基因組中與能量代謝相關(guān)的基因家族發(fā)生了擴(kuò)張,，而與免疫和嗅覺相關(guān)的基因家族發(fā)生了收縮,；通過對(duì)7190個(gè)直系同源基因的比對(duì)，發(fā)現(xiàn)與低氧反應(yīng)和骨骼發(fā)育相關(guān)的基因經(jīng)歷了正向選擇以及不同程度的快速進(jìn)化,。上述結(jié)果進(jìn)一步揭示了地山雀為適應(yīng)青藏高原的特殊環(huán)境,，產(chǎn)生了基本的生存適應(yīng)策略演化，以及由山雀向鴉的形態(tài)特征轉(zhuǎn)變,。
該成果于7月1日在線發(fā)表于Nature Communications雜志上,。（生物谷 Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦的英文摘要
Nature Communications doi:10.1038/ncomms3071
Ground tit genome reveals avian adaptation to living at high altitudes in the Tibetan plateau
Yanhua Qu, Hongwei Zhao, Naijian Han, Guangyu Zhou, Gang Song, Bin Gao, Shilin Tian, Jinbo Zhang, Ruiying Zhang, Xuehong Meng, Yuan Zhang, Yong Zhang, Xiaojia Zhu, Wenjuan Wang, David Lambert, Per G. P. Ericson, Sankar Subramanian, Carol Yeung, Hongmei Zhu, Zhi Jiang, Ruiqiang Li & Fumin Lei
The ground tit (Parus humilis) is endemic to the Tibetan plateau. It is a member of family Paridae but it was long thought to be related to the ground jays because of their morphological similarities. Here we present the ground tit’s genome and re-sequence two tits and one ground jay, to clarify this controversially taxonomic status and uncover its genetic adaptations to the Tibetan plateau. Our results show that ground tit groups with two tits and it diverges from them between 7.7 and 9.9 Mya. Compared with other avian genomes, ground tit shows expansion in genes linked to energy metabolism and contractions in genes involved in immune and olfactory perception. We also found positively selected and rapidly evolving genes in hypoxia response and skeletal development. These results indicated that ground tit evolves basic strategies and ‘tit-to-jay’ change for coping with the life in an extreme environment.
