Evolutionary history, genomic adaptation to toxic diet, and extinction of the Carolina Parakeet
Gelabert, Pere (Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC) (Barcelona))
Sandoval Velasco, Marcela (University of Copenhagen. The GLOBE Institute)
Serres, Aitor (Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC) (Barcelona))
de Manuel, Marc (Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC) (Barcelona))
Renom, Pere (Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC) (Barcelona))
Margaryan, Ashot (University of Copenhagen. The GLOBE Institute)
Stiller, Josefin (University of Copenhagen. Department of Biology)
de-Dios, Toni (Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC) (Barcelona))
Fang, Qi (BGI-Shenzhen (China))
Feng, Shaohong (BGI-Shenzhen (China))
Mañosa, Santi (Universitat de Barcelona. Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio))
Pacheco, George (University of Copenhagen. The GLOBE Institute)
Ferrando-Bernal, Manuel (Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC) (Barcelona))
Shi, Guolin (Northwestern Polytechnical University. Center of Special Environmental Biomechanics & Biomedical Engineering)
Hao, Fei (Northwestern Polytechnical University. Center of Special Environmental Biomechanics & Biomedical Engineering)
Chen, Xianqing (Northwestern Polytechnical University. Center for Ecological and Environmental Sciences)
Petersen, Bent (AIMST University (Malàisia). Centre of Excellence for Omics-Driven Computational Biodiscovery)
Olsen, Remi-André (Stockholm University. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics)
Navarro, Arcadi, 1969- (Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats)
Deng, Yuan (BGI-Shenzhen (China))
Dalén, Love (Swedish Museum of Natural History. Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics)
Marques-Bonet, Tomas, 1975- (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Zhang, Guojie (Chinese Academy of Sciences. Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics)
Antunes, Agostinho (University of Porto. Department of Biology)
Gilbert, M. Thomas P. (NTNU University Museum (Norway))
Lalueza-Fox, Carles (Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC) (Barcelona))

Date:	2020
Abstract:	As the only endemic neotropical parrot to have recently lived in the northern hemisphere, the Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) was an iconic North American bird. The last surviving specimen died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1918 [1]. The cause of its extinction remains contentious: besides excessive mortality associated to habitat destruction and active hunting, their survival could have been negatively affected by its range having become increasingly patchy [2] or by the exposure to poultry pathogens [3, 4]. In addition, the Carolina parakeet showed a predilection for cockleburs, an herbaceous plant that contains a powerful toxin, carboxyatractyloside, or CAT [5], which did not seem to affect them but made the birds notoriously toxic to most predators [3]. To explore the demographic history of this bird, we generated the complete genomic sequence of a preserved specimen held in a private collection in Espinelves (Girona, Spain), as well as of a close extant relative, Aratinga solstitialis. We identified two non-synonymous genetic changes in two highly conserved proteins known to interact with CAT that could underlie a specific dietary adaptation to this toxin. Our genomic analyses did not reveal evidence of a dramatic past demographic decline in the Carolina parakeet; also, its genome did not exhibit the long runs of homozygosity that are signals of recent inbreeding and are typically found in endangered species. As such, our results suggest its extinction was an abrupt process and thus likely solely attributable to human causes.
Grants:	European Commission 681396 Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca 2017/SGR-880 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BFU2017-86471-P Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad PGC2018-101927-B-I00 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad PGC2018-095931-B-100
Note:	Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Extinction ; Ancient genomics ; Population genomics ; Toxic diet ; Ornithology
Published in:	Current biology, Vol. 30, Issue 1 (January 2020) , p. 108-114, ISSN 0960-9822

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.066

19 p, 6.6 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles