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Utzeri VJ, Cilli E, Fontani F, Zoboli D, Orsini M, Ribani A, Latorre A, Lissovsky AA, Pillola GL, Bovo S, Gruppioni G, Luiselli D, Fontanesi L. Ancient DNA re-opens the question of the phylogenetic position of the Sardinian pika Prolagus sardus (Wagner, 1829), an extinct lagomorph. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13635. [PMID: 37604894 PMCID: PMC10442435 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40746-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Palaeogenomics is contributing to refine our understanding of many major evolutionary events at an unprecedented resolution, with relevant impacts in several fields, including phylogenetics of extinct species. Few extant and extinct animal species from Mediterranean regions have been characterised at the DNA level thus far. The Sardinian pika, Prolagus sardus (Wagner, 1829), was an iconic lagomorph species that populated Sardinia and Corsica and became extinct during the Holocene. There is a certain scientific debate on the phylogenetic assignment of the extinct genus Prolagus to the family Ochotonidae (one of the only two extant families of the order Lagomorpha) or to a separated family Prolagidae, or to the subfamily Prolaginae within the family Ochotonidae. In this study, we successfully reconstructed a portion of the mitogenome of a Sardinian pika dated to the Neolithic period and recovered from the Cabaddaris cave, an archaeological site in Sardinia. Our calibrated phylogeny may support the hypothesis that the genus Prolagus is an independent sister group to the family Ochotonidae that diverged from the Ochotona genus lineage about 30 million years ago. These results may contribute to refine the phylogenetic interpretation of the morphological peculiarities of the Prolagus genus already described by palaeontological studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerio Joe Utzeri
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Division of Animal Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, 40127, Bologna, Italy.
| | - Elisabetta Cilli
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy.
| | - Francesco Fontani
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy
| | - Daniel Zoboli
- Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria SS 554, 09042, Monserrato, Italy
| | - Massimiliano Orsini
- Laboratory of Microbial Ecology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Viale dell'università 10, 35120, Legnaro, Italy
| | - Anisa Ribani
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Division of Animal Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Adriana Latorre
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy
| | - Andrey A Lissovsky
- A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Gian Luigi Pillola
- Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria SS 554, 09042, Monserrato, Italy
| | - Samuele Bovo
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Division of Animal Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, 40127, Bologna, Italy
| | - Giorgio Gruppioni
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy
| | - Donata Luiselli
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Via degli Ariani 1, 48121, Ravenna, Italy
| | - Luca Fontanesi
- Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Division of Animal Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, 40127, Bologna, Italy.
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High-throughput degraded DNA sequencing of subfossil shells of a critically endangered stenoendemic land snail in the Aegean. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2022; 175:107561. [PMID: 35779768 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
High-throughput sequencing has enabled the comprehensive genetic exploration of biological diversity, especially by using natural history collections to study hard-to-find, threatened or even extinct-in-the-wild taxa. Mollusk shells are under-exploited as a source for DNA-based approaches, despite their apparent advantages in the field of conservation genetics. More particularly, degraded DNA techniques combined with high-throughput sequencing have never been used to gain insights about the DNA preservation in land snail subfossil or historical shells. Here, we applied degraded DNA analysis on two historical shells of Levantina rechingeri, a stenoendemic Critically Endangered species that has never been found alive, in order to explore the patterns of DNA preservation on land snail shells originating from the eastern Mediterranean, as well as to infer its molecular phylogenetic placement. Our results showed that centuries to decades-old DNA from an empty shell collected in an Aegean island exhibits characteristic post-mortem damage patterns similar to those observed in ancient DNA from eastern Mediterranean terrestrial animals, setting a precedent for future museomics studies on taxa distributed in areas with similar climate. Finally, genome skimming of the empty shell allowed high coverage of multiple nuclear and mitochondrial loci, enabling the phylogenetic placement of the focal taxon, the re-evaluation of its taxonomic classification, and the revealing of a new Aegean land snail lineage, Aristina genus novum. This approach is a non-invasive way to sample DNA from threatened land snail species and suitable to study the evolutionary history of taxa with cryptic ecology, stenoendemics, or extinct-in-the-wild, as well as old museum specimens.
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Scarsbrook L, Verry AJF, Walton K, Hitchmough RA, Rawlence NJ. Ancient mitochondrial genomes recovered from small vertebrate bones through minimally destructive DNA extraction: phylogeography of the New Zealand gecko genus
Hoplodactylus. Mol Ecol 2022; 32:2964-2984. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.16434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2021] [Revised: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lachie Scarsbrook
- Otago Paleogenetics Laboratory Department of Zoology University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
| | - Alexander J. F. Verry
- Otago Paleogenetics Laboratory Department of Zoology University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
| | - Kerry Walton
- Otago Paleogenetics Laboratory Department of Zoology University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
| | | | - Nicolas J. Rawlence
- Otago Paleogenetics Laboratory Department of Zoology University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
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Martínez‐Freiría F, Freitas I, Velo‐Antón G, Lucchini N, Fahd S, Larbes S, Pleguezuelos JM, Santos X, Brito JC. Integrative taxonomy reveals two species and intraspecific differentiation in the
Vipera latastei–monticola
complex. J ZOOL SYST EVOL RES 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Martínez‐Freiría
- CIBIO/InBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal
| | - Inês Freitas
- CIBIO/InBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal
| | - Guillermo Velo‐Antón
- CIBIO/InBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal
| | - Nahla Lucchini
- CIBIO/InBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal
| | - Soumia Fahd
- Equipe de Recherche Ecologie Systématique Conservation de la Biodiversité Département de Biologie Faculté des Sciences de Tétouan Université AbdelmalekEssaâdi Tetouan Morocco
| | - Said Larbes
- Faculté des Sciences Biologiques et Agronomiques Université M. Mammeri Tizi‐Ouzou Algeria
| | - Juan M. Pleguezuelos
- Departamento de Zoología Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de Granada Granada Spain
| | - Xavier Santos
- CIBIO/InBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal
| | - José C. Brito
- CIBIO/InBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia da Faculdade de Ciências Universidade do Porto Porto Portugal
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