TY - JOUR
T1 - Evolutionary History, Genomic Adaptation to Toxic Diet, and Extinction of the Carolina Parakeet.
AU - Gelabert Xirinachs, Pere
AU - Sandoval-Velasco, Marcela
AU - Serres, Aitor
AU - de Manuel, Marc
AU - Renom, Pere
AU - Margaryan, Ashot
AU - Stiller, Josefin
AU - de-Dios, Toni
AU - Fang, Qi
AU - Feng, Shaohong
AU - Mañosa, Santi
AU - Pacheco, George
AU - Ferrando-Bernal, Manuel
AU - Shi, Guolin
AU - Hao, Fei
AU - Chen, Xianqing
AU - Petersen, Bent
AU - Olsen, Remi-André
AU - Navarro, Arcadi
AU - Deng, Yuan
AU - Dalén, Love
AU - Marquès-Bonet, Tomàs
AU - Zhang, Guojie
AU - Antunes, Agostinho
AU - Gilbert, M. Thomas P.
AU - Lalueza-Fox, Carles
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s)
PY - 2020/1/6
Y1 - 2020/1/6
N2 - 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. Gelabert et al. report the whole genome of the extinct Carolina parakeet and provide evidence of its phylogeny, adaptation to a toxic cocklebur diet, and demographic history. The lack of signs of recent inbreeding typically found in endangered species suggests its abrupt extinction was human mediated.
AB - 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. Gelabert et al. report the whole genome of the extinct Carolina parakeet and provide evidence of its phylogeny, adaptation to a toxic cocklebur diet, and demographic history. The lack of signs of recent inbreeding typically found in endangered species suggests its abrupt extinction was human mediated.
KW - ALIGNMENT
KW - DAMAGE
KW - GENE
KW - PARROTS
KW - PATTERNS
KW - SEQUENCE
KW - ancient genomics
KW - extinction
KW - ornithology
KW - population genomics
KW - toxic diet
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077212999&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.066
DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2019.10.066
M3 - Article
SN - 0960-9822
VL - 30
SP - 108
EP - 114
JO - Current Biology
JF - Current Biology
IS - 1
ER -