Comparative and demographic analysis of orang-utan genomes

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 469; no. 7331; pp. 529 - 533
• Main Authors: Locke, Devin P., Hillier, LaDeana W., Warren, Wesley C., Worley, Kim C., Nazareth, Lynne V., Muzny, Donna M., Yang, Shiaw-Pyng, Wang, Zhengyuan, Chinwalla, Asif T., Minx, Pat, Mitreva, Makedonka, Cook, Lisa, Delehaunty, Kim D., Fronick, Catrina, Schmidt, Heather, Fulton, Lucinda A., Fulton, Robert S., Nelson, Joanne O., Magrini, Vincent, Pohl, Craig, Graves, Tina A., Markovic, Chris, Cree, Andy, Dinh, Huyen H., Hume, Jennifer, Kovar, Christie L., Lunter, Gerton, Meader, Stephen, Heger, Andreas, Ponting, Chris P., Marques-Bonet, Tomas, Alkan, Can, Chen, Lin, Cheng, Ze, Kidd, Jeffrey M., Eichler, Evan E., White, Simon, Searle, Stephen, Vilella, Albert J., Chen, Yuan, Flicek, Paul, Ma, Jian, Raney, Brian, Suh, Bernard, Burhans, Richard, Herrero, Javier, Haussler, David, Faria, Rui, Fernando, Olga, Darré, Fleur, Farré, Domènec, Gazave, Elodie, Oliva, Meritxell, Navarro, Arcadi, Roberto, Roberta, Capozzi, Oronzo, Archidiacono, Nicoletta, Valle, Giuliano Della, Purgato, Stefania, Rocchi, Mariano, Konkel, Miriam K., Walker, Jerilyn A., Ullmer, Brygg, Batzer, Mark A., Smit, Arian F. A., Hubley, Robert, Casola, Claudio, Schrider, Daniel R., Hahn, Matthew W., Quesada, Victor, Puente, Xose S., Ordoñez, Gonzalo R., López-Otín, Carlos, Vinar, Tomas, Brejova, Brona, Ratan, Aakrosh, Harris, Robert S., Miller, Webb, Kosiol, Carolin, Lawson, Heather A., Taliwal, Vikas, Martins, André L., Siepel, Adam, RoyChoudhury, Arindam, Ma, Xin, Degenhardt, Jeremiah, Bustamante, Carlos D., Gutenkunst, Ryan N., Mailund, Thomas, Dutheil, Julien Y., Hobolth, Asger, Schierup, Mikkel H., Ryder, Oliver A., Yoshinaga, Yuko, de Jong, Pieter J., Weinstock, George M., Rogers, Jeffrey, Mardis, Elaine R., Gibbs, Richard A., Wilson, Richard K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27.01.2011; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/181/2474; 631/208/212/748; Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Artificial chromosomes; Biological and medical sciences; Biological evolution; Centromere - genetics; Cerebrosides - metabolism; Chromosomes; Comparative analysis; Demecology; Demographic aspects; Energy consumption; Energy usage; Evolution, Molecular; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Rearrangement - genetics; Genetic aspects; Genetic Speciation; Genetic Variation; Genetics; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Genetics, Population; Genome - genetics; Genomics; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; letter; Male; Mammalia; Methods; Monkeys & apes; multidisciplinary; Orangutan; Phylogeny; Pongo abelii; Pongo abelii - genetics; Pongo pygmaeus; Pongo pygmaeus - genetics; Population Density; Population Dynamics; Population genetics, reproduction patterns; Population number; Primates; Science; Speciation; Species Specificity; Vertebrata; Borneo; Asia; Sumatra; Indonesia; United States; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Biological evolution; Primates; Simioidea; Genetic diversity; Population dynamics; Phylogeny; Genome; Population genetics; Pongo pygmaeus; Geographical variation
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/nature09687

Sequence analyses of endangered orang-utan species The genome of the Southeast Asian great ape or orang-utan has been sequenced — specifically a draft assembly of a Sumatran female individual and short-read sequence data from five further Sumatran and five Bornean orang-utan, Pongo abelii and Pongo pygmaeus , respectively. Orang-utan species appear to have split around 400,000 years ago, more recent than most previous estimates suggested, resulting in an average Bornean–Sumatran nucleotide identity of 99.68%. Structural evolution of the orang-utan genome seems to have proceeded much more slowly than that of other great apes, including chimpanzees and humans. With both orang-utan species on the endangered list, the authors hope that knowledge of the genome sequence and its variation between populations will provide a valuable resource for conservationists. The genome of the southeast Asian orang-utan has been sequenced. The draft assembly of a Sumatran individual alongside sequence data from five Sumatran and five Bornean orang-utan genomes is presented. The resources and analyses described offer new opportunities in evolutionary genomics, insights into hominid biology, and an extensive database of variation for conservation efforts. ‘Orang-utan’ is derived from a Malay term meaning ‘man of the forest’ and aptly describes the southeast Asian great apes native to Sumatra and Borneo. The orang-utan species, Pongo abelii (Sumatran) and Pongo pygmaeus (Bornean), are the most phylogenetically distant great apes from humans, thereby providing an informative perspective on hominid evolution. Here we present a Sumatran orang-utan draft genome assembly and short read sequence data from five Sumatran and five Bornean orang-utan genomes. Our analyses reveal that, compared to other primates, the orang-utan genome has many unique features. Structural evolution of the orang-utan genome has proceeded much more slowly than other great apes, evidenced by fewer rearrangements, less segmental duplication, a lower rate of gene family turnover and surprisingly quiescent Alu repeats, which have played a major role in restructuring other primate genomes. We also describe a primate polymorphic neocentromere, found in both Pongo species, emphasizing the gradual evolution of orang-utan genome structure. Orang-utans have extremely low energy usage for a eutherian mammal 1 , far lower than their hominid relatives. Adding their genome to the repertoire of sequenced primates illuminates new signals of positive selection in several pathways including glycolipid metabolism. From the population perspective, both Pongo species are deeply diverse; however, Sumatran individuals possess greater diversity than their Bornean counterparts, and more species-specific variation. Our estimate of Bornean/Sumatran speciation time, 400,000 years ago, is more recent than most previous studies and underscores the complexity of the orang-utan speciation process. Despite a smaller modern census population size, the Sumatran effective population size ( N e ) expanded exponentially relative to the ancestral N e after the split, while Bornean N e declined over the same period. Overall, the resources and analyses presented here offer new opportunities in evolutionary genomics, insights into hominid biology, and an extensive database of variation for conservation efforts.