Comparative genomics reveals insights into avian genome evolution and adaptation

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 346; no. 6215; pp. 1311 - 1320
• Main Authors: Zhang, Guojie, Li, Cai, Li, Qiye, Li, Bo, Larkin, Denis M., Lee, Chul, Storz, Jay F., Antunes, Agostinho, Greenwold, Matthew J., Meredith, Robert W., Ödeen, Anders, Cui, Jie, Xu, Luohao, Wang, Zongji, Jin, Lijun, Zhang, Pei, Hu, Haofu, Yang, Wei, Hu, Jiang, Xiao, Jin, Yang, Zhikai, Liu, Yang, Xie, Qiaolin, Yu, Hao, Lian, Jinmin, Wen, Ping, Zhang, Fang, Li, Hui, Zeng, Yongli, Xiong, Zijun, Liu, Shiping, Zhou, Long, Huang, Zhiyong, An, Na, Wang, Jie, Zheng, Qiumei, Xiong, Yingqi, Wang, Guangbiao, Wang, Bo, Wang, Jingjing, Fan, Yu, da Fonseca, Rute R., Alfaro-Núñez, Alonzo, Schubert, Mikkel, Orlando, Ludovic, Mourier, Tobias, Howard, Jason T., Ganapathy, Ganeshkumar, Pfenning, Andreas, Whitney, Osceola, Rivas, Miriam V., Hara, Erina, Smith, Julia, Farré, Marta, Narayan, Jitendra, Slavov, Gancho, Romanov, Michael N, Borges, Rui, Machado, João Paulo, Khan, Imran, Springer, Mark S., Gatesy, John, Hoffmann, Federico G., Opazo, Juan C., Sawyer, Roger H., Kim, Heebal, Kim, Kyu-Won, Kim, Hyeon Jeong, Cho, Seoae, Li, Ning, Huang, Yinhua, Bruford, Michael W., Zhan, Xiangjiang, Dixon, Andrew, Bertelsen, Mads F., Derryberry, Elizabeth, Warren, Wesley, Wilson, Richard K, Li, Shengbin, Green, Richard E., Griffin, Darren, Johnson, Warren E., Haussler, David, Ryder, Oliver A., Willerslev, Eske, Graves, Gary R., Alström, Per, Fjeldså, Jon, Mindell, David P., Edwards, Scott V., Rahbek, Carsten, Burt, David W., Houde, Peter, Zhang, Yong, Yang, Huanming, Wang, Jian, Consortium, Avian Genome, Jarvis, Erich D., Gilbert, M. Thomas P., Wang, Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 12.12.2014; The American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Subjects: Adaptation; Adaptation, Physiological; Animals; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Biodiversity; Biokemi och molekylärbiologi; Biological Evolution; Biological Systematics; Biologisk systematik; Birds; Birds - classification; Birds - genetics; Birds - physiology; Conserved Sequence; convergent evolution; Deletion; Diet; Erosion; Evolution; Evolution, Molecular; Evolutionary; Evolutionary biology; Female; Finches; Flight, Animal; gene deletion; Genes; Genetic Variation; Genetics; Genetik; Genome; Genomes; Genomics; Life Sciences; lifestyle; Male; Mammals; Molecular Sequence Annotation; nucleotide sequences; Nucleotides; Phylogeny; Reproduction - genetics; Reptiles; RESEARCH ARTICLE; Selection, Genetic; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Synteny; Vertebrates; Vision, Ocular - genetics; Vocalization, Animal; Waterfowl; Zoologi; Zoology
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1251385

Birds are the most species-rich class of tetrapod vertebrates and have wide relevance across many research fields. We explored bird macroevolution using full genomes from 48 avian species representing all major extant clades. The avian genome is principally characterized by its constrained size, which predominantly arose because of lineage-specific erosion of repetitive elements, large segmental deletions, and gene loss. Avian genomes furthermore show a remarkably high degree of evolutionary stasis at the levels of nucleotide sequence, gene synteny, and chromosomal structure. Despite this pattern of conservation, we detected many non-neutral evolutionary changes in protein-coding genes and noncoding regions. These analyses reveal that pan-avian genomic diversity covaries with adaptations to different lifestyles and convergent evolution of traits.