Several significant new studies have been jointly led by researchers from Zhejiang University, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Northwest University, and Yunnan University, Aarhus University, and BGI-Research. These studies have been published in a special issue of the journal Science, as well as in papers in Nature Ecology & Evolution and Science Advances.
The Primate Genome Consortium, co-led by Guojie Zhang from Centre for Evolutionary & Organismal Biology at Zhejiang University, Dong-Dong Wu at Kunming Institute of Zoology, Xiao-Guang Qi at Northwest University, Li Yu at Yunnan University, Mikkel Heide Schierup at Aarhus University, and Yang Zhou at BGI-Research, reported a series of publications from its first phase program. The program includes high quality reference genomes from 50 primate species, of which 27 were sequenced for the first time. These studies provide new insights on the speciation process, genomic diversity, social evolution, sex chromosomes, and the evolution of the brain and other biological traits.
The comparative analysis of primate genomes within a phylogenetic context is crucial for understanding the evolution of the human genetic architecture and the inter-species genomic differences associated with primate diversification. Previous studies of primate genomes have focused mainly on primate species closely related to humans and were constrained by the lack of broader phylogenetic coverage.
“Although there are more than 500 primate species worldwide, currently, only 23 representative non-human primates species have had their genomes published, leaving 72% of genera remain unsequenced, which creates significant knowledge gaps in understanding their evolutionary history,” Dong-Dong Wu states.
To address this gap, the team performed high-quality genome sequencing using long-read sequencing technologies on 27 primate species, including basal lineages that had not been fully sequenced before. Combining this with previously published primate genomes, the project conducted phylogenomic studies of 50 primate species representing 38 genera and 14 families to gain new insights into their genomic and phenotypic evolution.
2023-06-01 20:00:04
Original from phys.org