1. Evolutionary history of the brown rat: out of southern East Asia and selection
- Author
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Dong-Dong Wu, Serge Morand, Ya-Ping Zhang, Hojjat Asadollahpour Nanaei, Lin Zeng, He Qun Liu, Saeed S. Sohrabi, Ming Sheng Peng, Ali Esmailizadeh, Fabrice Brescia, Newton O. Otecko, Zhi-Bin Zhang, Solimane Ag Atteynine, Yong-Hong Yao, Yan-Hua Su, Stephen C. Donnellan, Li Y, Ambroise Dalecky, Gérard Rocamora, David M. Irwin, Haipeng Li, L. Y. Su, Chen Ming, Ying Song, Xiaohiu Liu, Ken Aplin, Ming Shan Wang, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences [Beijing] (CAS), Yunnan Agricultural University, Laboratoire Population-Environnement-Développement (LPED), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU), South Australian Museum, and Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, University of Adelaide, Australian National Wildlife Collection, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation [Canberra] (CSIRO), Institute of Inorganic Chemistry [Aachen], Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (RWTH), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Institute of Zoology, State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management on Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Avignon Université (AU)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UMR237-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université des sciences, des techniques et des technologies de Bamako, Université des sciences, des techniques et des technologies de Bamako (USTTB), Université des Seychelles, Institut Agronomique Néo-Calédonien (IAC), Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ), Institute of Inorganic Chemistry [Aachen] (IAC RWTH), Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University (RWTH), Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako (USTTB), and Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE)
- Subjects
0303 health sciences ,Brown rat ,biology ,Positive selection ,Energy metabolism ,Zoology ,biology.organism_classification ,3. Good health ,Laboratory rat ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Biological dispersal ,East Asia ,[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology ,Domestication ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Selection (genetic algorithm) ,030304 developmental biology - Abstract
The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) is found wherever humans live and transmits many diseases, and its breeding produced the laboratory rat used widely in medical research. Here, we sequenced whole genomes from 118 rats to explore the origin and dispersal routes of the brown rat and the domestication of the laboratory rat. We showed that brown rats migrated about 3600 years ago from southern East Asia, rather than Northern Asia as formerly suggested, to the Middle East and then to Europe and Africa. Many genes involved in the immune system experienced positive selection in the wild brown rat, while genes involved in the nervous system and energy metabolism showed evidence of artificial selection during the domestication of laboratory strains. Our findings demystify the puzzling origin and migration of brown rats and reveal the impact of evolution and domestication on this animal.
- Published
- 2016
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