Researchers have sequenced the mitochondrial genome of the endangered solenodon, a venomous insectivore that diverged from other living mammals 78 million years ago.
Date: May 2, 2016
Source: Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Biologists have completely sequenced the mitochondrial genome for the Hispaniolan solenodon, filling in the last major branch of placental mammals on the tree of life. The study confirmed that the venomous mammal diverged from all other living mammals 78 million years ago, long before an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.
The University of Illinois and University of Puerto Rico have completely sequenced the mitochondrial genome for the Hispaniolan solenodon, filling in the last major branch of placental mammals on the tree of life.
The study, published in Mitochondrial DNA, confirmed that the venomous mammal diverged from all other living mammals 78 million years ago, long before an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs.
"It's just impressive it's survived this long," said co-first author Adam Brandt, a postdoctoral researcher at Illinois. "It survived the asteroid; it survived human colonization and the rats and mice humans brought with them that wiped out the solenodon's closest relatives."
The study also supports recent findings that the Dominican Republic contains genetically distinct northern and southern populations that should be conserved as separate sub-species. Furthermore, the study found that the southern population has little diversity, whereas the northern population is much more diverse.
An offspring's nuclear DNA is a mixture of genes from each parent while mitochondrial DNA is passed directly from mother to offspring without changes, creating a genetic record that researchers can use to trace back the lineage of organisms.
Because solenodons are endangered, it is difficult to acquire DNA. Working with colleagues at several universities in the Dominican Republic, UPR Professor of Genetics Taras Oleksyk and his team collected samples by laying on the ground and waiting for the solenodons to crawl across their bodies.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!