Sirenian genomes illuminate the evolution of fully aquatic species within the mammalian superorder afrotheria

Ran Tian, Yaolei Zhang, Hui Kang, Fan Zhang, Zhihong Jin, Jiahao Wang, Peijun Zhang, Xuming Zhou, Janet M. Lanyon, Helen L. Sneath, Lucy Woolford, Guangyi Fan (), Songhai Li () and Inge Seim ()
Additional contact information
Ran Tian: Nanjing Normal University
Yaolei Zhang: BGI Research
Hui Kang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fan Zhang: Nanjing Normal University
Zhihong Jin: Nanjing Normal University
Jiahao Wang: BGI Research
Peijun Zhang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xuming Zhou: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Janet M. Lanyon: The University of Queensland
Helen L. Sneath: The University of Queensland
Lucy Woolford: The University of Adelaide
Guangyi Fan: BGI Research
Songhai Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Inge Seim: Nanjing Normal University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: Abstract Sirenians of the superorder Afrotheria were the first mammals to transition from land to water and are the only herbivorous marine mammals. Here, we generated a chromosome-level dugong (Dugong dugon) genome. A comparison of our assembly with other afrotherian genomes reveals possible molecular adaptations to aquatic life by sirenians, including a shift in daily activity patterns (circadian clock) and tolerance to a high-iodine plant diet mediated through changes in the iodide transporter NIS (SLC5A5) and its co-transporters. Functional in vitro assays confirm that sirenian amino acid substitutions alter the properties of the circadian clock protein PER2 and NIS. Sirenians show evidence of convergent regression of integumentary system (skin and its appendages) genes with cetaceans. Our analysis also uncovers gene losses that may be maladaptive in a modern environment, including a candidate gene (KCNK18) for sirenian cold stress syndrome likely lost during their evolutionary shift in daily activity patterns. Genomes from nine Australian locations and the functionally extinct Okinawan population confirm and date a genetic break ~10.7 thousand years ago on the Australian east coast and provide evidence of an associated ecotype, and highlight the need for whole-genome resequencing data from dugong populations worldwide for conservation and genetic management.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49769-x Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-49769-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49769-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().