1. Aye-aye population genomic analyses highlight an important center of endemism in northern Madagascar
- Author
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Runhua Lei, Stephan C. Schuster, Edward E. Louis, Richard Burhans, Webb Miller, George H. Perry, Steig E. Johnson, Oscar C. Bedoya-Reina, and Aakrosh Ratan
- Subjects
Time Factors ,Genotype ,Range (biology) ,Biogeography ,Population ,Lemur ,Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ,Population genomics ,Evolution, Molecular ,biology.animal ,Madagascar ,Flagship species ,Animals ,education ,Endemism ,Phylogeny ,education.field_of_study ,Internet ,Science::Biological sciences::Zoology [DRNTU] ,Multidisciplinary ,Genome ,biology ,Geography ,Ecology ,Aye-aye ,Genomics ,Sequence Analysis, DNA ,Biological Sciences ,biology.organism_classification ,Genetics, Population - Abstract
We performed a population genomics study of the aye-aye, a highly specialized nocturnal lemur from Madagascar. Aye-ayes have low population densities and extensive range requirements that could make this flagship species particularly susceptible to extinction. Therefore, knowledge of genetic diversity and differentiation among aye-aye populations is critical for conservation planning. Such information may also advance our general understanding of Malagasy biogeography, as aye-ayes have the largest species distribution of any lemur. We generated and analyzed whole-genome sequence data for 12 aye-ayes from three regions of Madagascar (North, West, and East). We found that the North population is genetically distinct, with strong differentiation from other aye-ayes over relatively short geographic distances. For comparison, the average F ST value between the North and East aye-aye populations—separated by only 248 km—is over 2.1-times greater than that observed between human Africans and Europeans. This finding is consistent with prior watershed- and climate-based hypotheses of a center of endemism in northern Madagascar. Taken together, these results suggest a strong and long-term biogeographical barrier to gene flow. Thus, the specific attention that should be directed toward preserving large, contiguous aye-aye habitats in northern Madagascar may also benefit the conservation of other distinct taxonomic units. To help facilitate future ecological- and conservation-motivated population genomic analyses by noncomputational biologists, the analytical toolkit used in this study is available on the Galaxy Web site.
- Published
- 2013