High-coverage genomes to elucidate the evolution of penguins

COLE, THERESA L; ZHOU, CHENGRAN; HART, TOM; BOST, CHARLES-ANDRÉ; MATTERN, THOMAS; ZHANG, DE-XING; PAN, HAILIN; FANG, MIAOQUAN; KSEPKA, DANIEL T; BOERSMA, P DEE; DANN, PETER; BORBOROGLU, PABLO GARCÍA; BI, XUPENG; YANG, ZHENGTAO; BOUZAT, JUAN L; CHEREL, YVES; ELLENBERG, URSULA; ZHANG, GUOJIE

GigaScience

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2019 vol. 8 p. 1 - 17

Penguins (Sphenisciformes) are a remarkable order of flightless wing-propelled diving seabirds distributedwidely across the southern hemisphere. They share a volant common ancestor with Procellariiformes close to theCretaceous-Paleogene boundary (66 million years ago) and subsequently lost the ability to fly but enhanced their divingcapabilities. With ∼20 species among 6 genera, penguins range from the tropical Gal ´apagos Islands to the oceanictemperate forests of New Zealand, the rocky coastlines of the sub-Antarctic islands, and the sea ice around Antarctica. Toinhabit such diverse and extreme environments, penguins evolved many physiological and morphological adaptations.However, they are also highly sensitive to climate change. Therefore, penguins provide an exciting target system forunderstanding the evolutionary processes of speciation, adaptation, and demography. Genomic data are an emergingresource for addressing questions about such processes. Results: Here we present a novel dataset of 19 high-coveragegenomes that, together with 2 previously published genomes, encompass all extant penguin species. We also present awell-supported phylogeny to clarify the relationships among penguins. In contrast to recent studies, our resultsdemonstrate that the genus Aptenodytes is basal and sister to all other extant penguin genera, providing intriguing newinsights into the adaptation of penguins to Antarctica. As such, our dataset provides a novel resource for understanding theevolutionary history of penguins as a clade, as well as the fine-scale relationships of individual penguin lineages. Againstthis background, we introduce a major consortium of international scientists dedicated to studying these genomes.Moreover, we highlight emerging issues regarding ensuring legal and respectful indigenous consultation, particularly forgenomic data originating from New Zealand Taonga species. Conclusions: We believe that our dataset and project will beimportant for understanding evolution, increasing cultural heritage and guiding the conservation of this iconic southernhemisphere species assemblage.