生物谷Bioon.com 訊 據(jù)來自昆明動(dòng)物研究所最新消息,，8月3日,國際著名刊物美國科學(xué)院院刊（PNAS）以封面文章發(fā)表了昆明動(dòng)物研究所關(guān)于棘蛙族類群揭示喜馬拉雅和東南亞地區(qū)重要地質(zhì)歷史事件的研究成果,。
新生代印度和亞洲板塊的撞擊事件可以說是目前地球上最大和最積極的造山運(yùn)動(dòng),，在亞洲由此引發(fā)了一系列重要的地質(zhì)地殼運(yùn)動(dòng)和氣候變化，重新塑造著新生代的亞洲大陸板塊,，如青藏高原的抬升,、東南亞地區(qū)（主要為馬來半島）的側(cè)向逃逸,、以及亞洲季風(fēng)氣候的盛行等,。對(duì)于這樣一個(gè)全球一級(jí)板塊區(qū)域,，和地質(zhì)學(xué)家一樣,，生物學(xué)家也同樣有著濃厚的研究興趣。喜馬拉雅地區(qū),，中國西部山脈,，緬甸-馬來半島區(qū)域等三個(gè)全球生物多樣性熱點(diǎn)區(qū)歷來是生物學(xué)家們研究物種起源、分化的天然實(shí)驗(yàn)室,。
在昆明動(dòng)物所張亞平院士研究組與加州大學(xué)伯克利分校脊椎動(dòng)物博物館的David B. Wake院士研究組的合作中，車靜副研究員等對(duì)亞洲特有分布的兩棲類群–棘蛙族進(jìn)行了系統(tǒng)進(jìn)化和詳細(xì)的生物地理分析,。棘蛙族物種在亞洲沿喜馬拉雅山分布,，從巴基斯坦，印度東部，緬甸進(jìn)入馬來半島地區(qū),，向北進(jìn)入中國南方廣大地區(qū),，同時(shí)在青藏高原也有分布。在中國,，棘蛙又俗稱“石蛙”,，大部分棘蛙物種生活在深山，多石,，急流處,，其特殊的生存環(huán)境需求和雄性第二性征及其在亞洲重要的分布區(qū)域使其成為研究物種性狀進(jìn)化以及生物地理的絕好材料。結(jié)合棘蛙族的分子進(jìn)化歷史,，分子鐘估算,，以及生物地理分析，該研究提出：在漸新世早期,，亞洲開始出現(xiàn)明顯的地理和氣候的轉(zhuǎn)型,，一直延續(xù)到中新世呈現(xiàn)加強(qiáng)趨勢，環(huán)境的變化無疑造成了棘蛙族物種的快速分化,。隔離是造成西部高海拔物種分化的主要原因,，而對(duì)于低海拔物種，明顯地,，分布在中國南方的物種來自馬來半島物種的一次重要的擴(kuò)散事件,。另外該結(jié)果第一次從分子生物學(xué)的角度上支持了地質(zhì)學(xué)假說：由于印度板塊和亞洲板塊的撞擊，青藏高原和喜馬拉雅不同的地區(qū)先后發(fā)生了隆起事件,，其中在漸新世和中新世轉(zhuǎn)型期間,，一次隆起事件和馬來半島的側(cè)向逃逸事件幾乎是同時(shí)發(fā)生的。
著名地質(zhì)學(xué)家An Yin評(píng)價(jià)“The work presented by Che et al. is the first large-scale paleogeographic reconstruction of the Indo-Asian collision zone using a biological approach. This is an important start and I expect more work along the same line to emerge in the coming decades”. PNAS編輯委員會(huì)評(píng)價(jià)：I judge this contribution as one of the best of its kind in the field linking DNA based phylogeny with plate tectonics. Details will be debated but it sets a wonderful base for future investigations throughout the world.
本研究得到了科技部國家重點(diǎn)基礎(chǔ)研究發(fā)展計(jì)劃（973）以及美國國家自然科學(xué)基金的支持,。另外車靜獲2008年度中國科學(xué)院公派出國留學(xué)計(jì)劃“訪問學(xué)者”項(xiàng)目資助赴美開展亞洲兩棲類合作研究,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1008415107
Spiny frogs (Paini) illuminate the history of the Himalayan region and Southeast Asia
Jing Che a , b , Wei-Wei Zhou a , Jian-Sheng Hu a , c , Fang Yan a , Theodore J. Papenfuss b , David B. Wake b , 1 , and Ya-Ping Zhang a , d , 1
aState Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, People's Republic of China;
bDepartment of Integrative Biology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720; and
cCollege of Life Sciences and
dLaboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bioresources, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, People's Republic of China
Asian frogs of the tribe Paini (Anura: Dicroglossidae) range across several first-order tectono-morphological domains of the Cenozoic Indo-Asian collision that include the Tibetan Plateau, the Himalayas, and Indochina. We show how the tectonic events induced by the Indo-Asian collision affected the regional biota and, in turn, how the geological history of the earth can be viewed from a biological perspective. Our analysis of a concatenated dataset comprising four nuclear gene sequences of Paini revealed two main radiations, corresponding to the genera Nanorana (I) and Quasipaa (II). Five distinct clades are recognized: Tibetan plateau clade (I-1), Himalaya clade (I-2), environs of Himalaya–Tibetan plateau clade (I-3), South China clade (II-1), and Indochina clade (II-2). This pattern of relationships highlights the significance of geography in shaping evolutionary history. Building on our molecular dating, ancestral region reconstruction, and distributional patterns, we hypothesize a distinct geographic and climatic transition in Asia beginning in the Oligocene and intensifying in the Miocene; this stimulated rapid diversification of Paini. Vicariance explains species formation among major lineages within Nanorana. Dispersal, in contrast, plays an important role among Quasipaa, with the southern Chinese taxa originating from Indochina. Our results support the tectonic hypothesis that an uplift in the Himalaya–Tibetan plateau region resulting from crustal thickening and lateral extrusion of Indochina occurred synchronously during the transition between Oligocene and Miocene in reaction to the Indo-Asian collision. The phylogenetic history of Paini illuminates critical aspects of the timing of geological events responsible for the current geography of Southeast Asia.
