1. Genomes of Three Closely Related Caribbean Amazons Provide Insight for Species History and Conservation
- Author
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Juan Carlos Martínez-Cruzado, Pavel Dobrinin, Audrey J. Majeske, Gaik Tamazian, Walter W. Wolfsberger, Michael H. Court, Aleksei Komissarov, Taras K. Oleksyk, David Sanchez-Migallon Guzman, Juan L. Rodriguez-Flores, Kirill Grigorev, Joanne R Paul-Murphy, Sofiia Kolchanova, Ricardo Valentin de la Rosa, Jafet Velez-Valentin, and Sergei Kliver
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,0301 basic medicine ,demography ,lcsh:QH426-470 ,Amazona leucocephala ,Genomics ,Context (language use) ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Genome ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,Critically endangered ,Parrots ,Amazona ventralis ,Hispaniola ,ddc:570 ,Genetics ,genomics ,Animals ,heterozygosity ,14. Life underwater ,Genetics (clinical) ,Amazona vittata ,Islands ,biology ,Human Genome ,Endangered Species ,conservation ,parrots ,birds ,Puerto Rican parrot ,Cuba ,15. Life on land ,biology.organism_classification ,lcsh:Genetics ,030104 developmental biology ,Evolutionary biology ,Threatened species ,Transcriptome - Abstract
Islands have been used as model systems for studies of speciation and extinction since Darwin published his observations about finches found on the Galapagos. Amazon parrots inhabiting the Greater Antillean Islands represent a fascinating model of species diversification. Unfortunately, many of these birds are threatened as a result of human activity and some, like the Puerto Rican parrot, are now critically endangered. In this study we used a combination of de novo and reference-assisted assembly methods, integrating it with information obtained from related genomes to perform genome reconstruction of three amazon species. First, we used whole genome sequencing data to generate a new de novo genome assembly for the Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata). We then improved the obtained assembly using transcriptome data from Amazona ventralis and used the resulting sequences as a reference to assemble the genomes Hispaniolan (A. ventralis) and Cuban (Amazona leucocephala) parrots. Finally, we, annotated genes and repetitive elements, estimated genome sizes and current levels of heterozygosity, built models of demographic history and provided interpretation of our findings in the context of parrot evolution in the Caribbean.
- Published
- 2019
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