Population genomics provides insights into the evolution and adaptation of tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri) in China

Abstract

Physiological adaptation of tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri) to changing environmental temperature has been reported in detail. However, the T. belangeri origin (mainland or island), population history, and adaptation to historical climate change remain largely unknown or controversial. Here, for the first time, we sequenced the simplified genome of 134 T. belangeri individuals from 12 populations in China and further resequenced one individual from each population. Using population genomic approaches, we first observed considerable genetic variation in T. belangeri. Moreover, T. belangeri populations formed obvious genetic structure and reflected different demographic histories; they generally exhibited high genetic diversity, although the isolated populations had relatively low genetic diversity. The results presented in this study indicate that T. b. modesta and T. b. tonquinia were separated recently and with a similar population dynamics. Second, physical barriers rather than distance were the driving factors of divergence, and environmental heterogeneity may play an important role in genetic differentiation in T. belangeri. Moreover, our analyses highlight the role of historical global climates in the T. belangeri population dynamics and indicate that the decrease of the T. belangeri population size may be due to the low temperature. Finally, we identified the olfaction‐associated adaptive genes between different altitude populations and found that olfactory‐related genes of high‐altitude populations were selectively eliminated. Our study provides demographic history knowledge of T. belangeri; their adaption history offers new insights into their evolution and adaptation, and provides valuable baseline information for conservation measures.

Evolution and conservation genetics of pangolins

“…2016; Ren et al. 2023). Conservation genomics greatly expands the traditional scope of conservation genetics, which helps decision‐makers create more effective strategies for species conservation.…”

“…In the context of endangered species, data pertaining to genomic variation can be used to address critical questions that are relevant to protecting endangered species. More specifically, genomic variation can help researchers better understand diversity patterns and estimate effective population sizes, migration rates, gene flow, inbreeding, and the prevalence of harmful mutations (Allendorf et al 2010;Khan et al 2016;Ren et al 2023). Conservation genomics greatly expands the traditional scope of conservation genetics, which helps decisionmakers create more effective strategies for species conservation.…”

Molecular genetics and quantitative traits divergence among populations of Eothenomys miletus from Hengduan Mountain region

“…Using EIGENSOFT 3.0 software, principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out (Patterson et al, 2006). The neighbor-joining (NJ) approach in MAGA 7.0.26 was employed to reconstruct phylogenetic trees of 161 individuals (Koichiro et al, 2011;Ren et al, 2022).…”

Geometric Morphometric Research of the Molars in Tree Shrews (Tupaia belangeri) from Different Regions

“…The complex and ever-changing natural environment may lead to genetic and phenotypic variations in the T. belangeri. The research results of genomics and metabolomics have found that distinct genetic and metabolic differentiation has occurred in T. belangeri in different regions (Ren et al, 2023;Hou et al, 2023). Studies on some morphological indicators have also found that there were certain variations in body index, fullness, body composition, digestive tract and skull morphology of T. belangeri in different regions, which may be related to distribution, altitude and geographical barriers (Gao et al, 2017;Ren et al, 2019b;Li et al, 2020).…”