Two Antarctic penguin genomes reveal insights into their evolutionary history and molecular changes related to the Antarctic environment

• Published in: GigaScience
• Main Authors: Li, Cai, Zhang, Yong, Li, Jianwen, Kong, Lesheng, Hu, Haofu, Pan, Hailin, Xu, Luohao, Deng, Yuan, Li, Qiye, Jin, Lijun, Yu, Hao, Chen, Yan, Liu, Binghang, Yang, Linfeng, Liu, Shiping, Zhang, Yan, Lang, Yongshan, Xia, Jinquan, He, Weiming, Shi, Qiong, Subramanian, Sankar, Millar, Craig D, Meader, Stephen, Rands, Chris M., Fujita, Matthew K., Greenwold, Matthew J., Castoe, Todd A., Pollock, David D., Gu, Wanjun, Nam, Ki Woong, Ellegren, Hans, Ho, Simon Y.W., Burt, David W., Ponting, Chris P., Jarvis, Erich D., Gilbert, M. Thomas P., Yang, Huanming, Wang, Jian, Lambert, David M., Wang, Jun, Zhang, Guojie
• Other Authors: China National GeneBank, Section for GeoGenetics, Globe Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH), MRC Functional Genomics Unit, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford Oxford, Environmental Futures Centre, Griffith University Brisbane, Allan Wilson Center for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, University of Auckland Auckland -Massey University-University of Canterbury Christchurch -University of Otago Dunedin, Nouvelle-Zélande, Current address: Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina Columbia, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, Department of Physics Boulder, University of Colorado Boulder -University of Colorado Boulder, Biology Department, Research Centre of Learning Sciences, SouthEast University, Department of Evolutionary Biology Uppsala, Uppsala University, Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University Aarhus, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Department of Genomics and Genetics, The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Department of Neurobiology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University, Trace and Environmental DNA Laboratory, Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University Perth, Planning and Transport Research Centre (PATREC)-Planning and Transport Research Centre (PATREC), Princess Al Jawhara Center of Excellence in the Research of Hereditary Disorders, King Abdulaziz University, Department of Biology Copenhagen, Faculty of Science Copenhagen, Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Centre for Social Evolution (CSE), Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-Faculty of Science Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-University of Copenhagen = Københavns Universitet (UCPH)-Department of Biology Copenhagen, European Research Council: 249869
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: Adaptation; Antarctica; Avian genomics; Evolution; penguins; antarctique; manchot; diversité des populations; genetique des populations; génomique comparative; phylogénie des animaux; génome; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Antarctic; Manchot; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctique*; Aptenodytes forsteri; Pygoscelis adeliae
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01465349; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01465349/document; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01465349/file/Li%202014%20GigaScience_%7B732BC777-A038-496B-9E99-6B72E431AB2E%7D.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1186/2047-217X-3-27

Penguins are flightless aquatic birds widely distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The distinctive morphological and physiological features of penguins allow them to live an aquatic life, and some of them have successfully adapted to the hostile environments in Antarctica. To study the phylogenetic and population history of penguins and the molecular basis of their adaptations to Antarctica, we sequenced the genomes of the two Antarctic dwelling penguin species, the Adélie penguin [Pygoscelis adeliae] and emperor penguin [Aptenodytes forsteri].Phylogenetic dating suggests that early penguins arose ~60 million years ago, coinciding with a period of global warming. Analysis of effective population sizes reveals that the two penguin species experienced population expansions from ~1 million years ago to ~100 thousand years ago, but responded differently to the climatic cooling of the last glacial period. Comparative genomic analyses with other available avian genomes identified molecular changes in genes related to epidermal structure, phototransduction, lipid metabolism, and forelimb morphology.Our sequencing and initial analyses of the first two penguin genomes provide insights into the timing of penguin origin, fluctuations in effective population sizes of the two penguin species over the past 10 million years, and the potential associations between these biological patterns and global climate change. The molecular changes compared with other avian genomes reflect both shared and diverse adaptations of the two penguin species to the Antarctic environment.