Genetic Convergence in the Adaptation of Dogs and Humans to the High-altitude Environment of the Tibetan Plateau

Overview

Journal Genome Biol Evol

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialties Biology
Genetics
Molecular Biology

Date 2014 Aug 6

PMID 25091388

Citations 61

Authors

Guo-Dong Wang

Ruo-Xi Fan

Weiwei Zhai

Fei Liu

Lu Wang

Li Zhong

Hong Wu

He-Chuan Yang

Shi-Fang Wu

Chun-Ling Zhu

Yan Li

Yun Gao

Ri-Li Ge

Chung-I Wu

Ya-Ping Zhang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The high-altitude hypoxic environment represents one of the most extreme challenges for mammals. Previous studies of humans on the Tibetan plateau and in the Andes Mountains have identified statistical signatures of selection in different sets of loci. Here, we first measured the hemoglobin levels in village dogs from Tibet and those from Chinese lowlands. We found that the hemoglobin levels are very similar between the two groups, suggesting that Tibetan dogs might share similar adaptive strategies as the Tibetan people. Through a whole-genome sequencing approach, we have identified EPAS1 and HBB as candidate genes for the hypoxic adaptation on the Tibetan plateau. The population genetic analysis shows a significant convergence between humans and dogs in Tibet. The similarities in the sets of loci that exhibit putative signatures of selection and the hemoglobin levels between humans and dogs of the same environment, but not between human populations in different regions, suggests an extraordinary landscape of convergent evolution between human beings and their best friend on the Tibetan plateau.

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