@misc{WestburyBalekaBarlowetal.2017, author = {Westbury, Michael V. and Baleka, Sina Isabelle and Barlow, Axel and Hartmann, Stefanie and Paijmans, Johanna L. A. and Kramarz, Alejandro and Forasiepi, Anal{\´i}a M. and Bond, Mariano and Gelfo, Javier N. and Reguero, Marcelo A. and L{\´o}pez-Mendoza, Patricio and Taglioretti, Matias and Scaglia, Fernando and Rinderknecht, Andr{\´e}s and Jones, Washington and Mena, Francisco and Billet, Guillaume and de Muizon, Christian and Aguilar, Jos{\´e} Luis and MacPhee, Ross D.E. and Hofreiter, Michael}, title = {A mitogenomic timetree for Darwin's enigmatic South American mammal Macrauchenia patachonica}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {793}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-44080}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-440801}, pages = {8}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The unusual mix of morphological traits displayed by extinct South American native ungulates (SANUs) confounded both Charles Darwin, who first discovered them, and Richard Owen, who tried to resolve their relationships. Here we report an almost complete mitochondrial genome for the litoptern Macrauchenia. Our dated phylogenetic tree places Macrauchenia as sister to Perissodactyla, but close to the radiation of major lineages within Laurasiatheria. This position is consistent with a divergence estimate of B66Ma (95\% credibility interval, 56.64-77.83 Ma) obtained for the split between Macrauchenia and other Panperissodactyla. Combined with their morphological distinctiveness, this evidence supports the positioning of Litopterna (possibly in company with other SANU groups) as a separate order within Laurasiatheria. We also show that, when using strict criteria, extinct taxa marked by deep divergence times and a lack of close living relatives may still be amenable to palaeogenomic analysis through iterative mapping against more distant relatives.}, language = {en} } @misc{BeermannWestburyHofreiteretal.2018, author = {Beermann, Jan and Westbury, Michael V. and Hofreiter, Michael and Hilgers, Leon and Deister, Fabian and Neumann, Hermann and Raupach, Michael J.}, title = {Cryptic species in a well-known habitat}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {1059}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-46079}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-460792}, pages = {28}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Taxonomy plays a central role in biological sciences. It provides a communication system for scientists as it aims to enable correct identification of the studied organisms. As a consequence, species descriptions should seek to include as much available information as possible at species level to follow an integrative concept of 'taxonomics'. Here, we describe the cryptic species Epimeria frankei sp. nov. from the North Sea, and also redescribe its sister species, Epimeria cornigera. The morphological information obtained is substantiated by DNA barcodes and complete nuclear 18S rRNA gene sequences. In addition, we provide, for the first time, full mitochondrial genome data as part of a metazoan species description for a holotype, as well as the neotype. This study represents the first successful implementation of the recently proposed concept of taxonomics, using data from high-throughput technologies for integrative taxonomic studies, allowing the highest level of confidence for both biodiversity and ecological research.}, language = {en} } @misc{WestburyHartmannBarlowetal.2018, author = {Westbury, Michael V. and Hartmann, Stefanie and Barlow, Axel and Wiesel, Ingrid and Leo, Viyanna and Welch, Rebecca and Parker, Daniel M. and Sicks, Florian and Ludwig, Arne and Dalen, Love and Hofreiter, Michael}, title = {Extended and continuous decline in effective population size results in low genomic diversity in the world's rarest hyena species, the brown hyena}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {589}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-41413}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-414132}, pages = {13}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Hyenas (family Hyaenidae), as the sister group to cats (family Felidae), represent a deeply diverging branch within the cat-like carnivores (Feliformia). With an estimated population size of <10,000 individuals worldwide, the brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea) represents the rarest of the four extant hyena species and has been listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. Here, we report a high-coverage genome from a captive bred brown hyena and both mitochondrial and low-coverage nuclear genomes of 14 wild-caught brown hyena individuals from across southern Africa. We find that brown hyena harbor extremely low genetic diversity on both the mitochondrial and nuclear level, most likely resulting from a continuous and ongoing decline in effective population size that started similar to 1 Ma and dramatically accelerated towards the end of the Pleistocene. Despite the strikingly low genetic diversity, we find no evidence of inbreeding within the captive bred individual and reveal phylogeographic structure, suggesting the existence of several potential subpopulations within the species.}, language = {en} } @misc{CahsanWestburyParaskevopoulouetal.2021, author = {Cahsan, Binia De and Westbury, Michael V. and Paraskevopoulou, Sofia and Drews, Hauke and Ott, Moritz and Gollmann, G{\"u}nter and Tiedemann, Ralph}, title = {Genomic consequences of human-mediated translocations in margin populations of an endangered amphibian}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {6}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-52314}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-523140}, pages = {14}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Due to their isolated and often fragmented nature, range margin populations are especially vulnerable to rapid environmental change. To maintain genetic diversity and adaptive potential, gene flow from disjunct populations might therefore be crucial to their survival. Translocations are often proposed as a mitigation strategy to increase genetic diversity in threatened populations. However, this also includes the risk of losing locally adapted alleles through genetic swamping. Human-mediated translocations of southern lineage specimens into northern German populations of the endangered European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) provide an unexpected experimental set-up to test the genetic consequences of an intraspecific introgression from central population individuals into populations at the species range margin. Here, we utilize complete mitochondrial genomes and transcriptome nuclear data to reveal the full genetic extent of this translocation and the consequences it may have for these populations. We uncover signs of introgression in four out of the five northern populations investigated, including a number of introgressed alleles ubiquitous in all recipient populations, suggesting a possible adaptive advantage. Introgressed alleles dominate at the MTCH2 locus, associated with obesity/fat tissue in humans, and the DSP locus, essential for the proper development of epidermal skin in amphibians. Furthermore, we found loci where local alleles were retained in the introgressed populations, suggesting their relevance for local adaptation. Finally, comparisons of genetic diversity between introgressed and nonintrogressed northern German populations revealed an increase in genetic diversity in all German individuals belonging to introgressed populations, supporting the idea of a beneficial transfer of genetic variation from Austria into North Germany.}, language = {en} } @misc{BaslerXenikoudakisWestburyetal.2017, author = {Basler, Nikolas and Xenikoudakis, Georgios and Westbury, Michael V. and Song, Lingfeng and Sheng, Guilian and Barlow, Axel}, title = {Reduction of the contaminant fraction of DNA obtained from an ancient giant panda bone}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {715}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42815}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-428151}, pages = {7}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Objective: A key challenge in ancient DNA research is massive microbial DNA contamination from the deposition site which accumulates post mortem in the study organism's remains. Two simple and cost-effective methods to enrich the relative endogenous fraction of DNA in ancient samples involve treatment of sample powder with either bleach or Proteinase K pre-digestion prior to DNA extraction. Both approaches have yielded promising but vary-ing results in other studies. Here, we contribute data on the performance of these methods using a comprehensive and systematic series of experiments applied to a single ancient bone fragment from a giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).Results: Bleach and pre-digestion treatments increased the endogenous DNA content up to ninefold. However, the absolute amount of DNA retrieved was dramatically reduced by all treatments. We also observed reduced DNA damage patterns in pre-treated libraries compared to untreated ones, resulting in longer mean fragment lengths and reduced thymine over-representation at fragment ends. Guanine-cytosine (GC) contents of both mapped and total reads are consistent between treatments and conform to general expectations, indicating no obvious biasing effect of the applied methods. Our results therefore confirm the value of bleach and pre-digestion as tools in palaeog-enomic studies, providing sufficient material is available.}, language = {en} } @misc{CahsanKiemelWestburyetal.2021, author = {Cahsan, Binia De and Kiemel, Katrin and Westbury, Michael V. and Lauritsen, Maike and Autenrieth, Marijke and Gollmann, G{\"u}nter and Schweiger, Silke and Stenberg, Marika and Nystr{\"o}m, Per and Drews, Hauke and Tiedemann, Ralph}, title = {Southern introgression increases adaptive immune gene variability in northern range margin populations of Fire-bellied toad}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {14}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-52388}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-523883}, pages = {17}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Northern range margin populations of the European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) have rapidly declined during recent decades. Extensive agricultural land use has fragmented the landscape, leading to habitat disruption and loss, as well as eutrophication of ponds. In Northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) and Southern Sweden (Sk{\aa}ne), this population decline resulted in decreased gene flow from surrounding populations, low genetic diversity, and a putative reduction in adaptive potential, leaving populations vulnerable to future environmental and climatic changes. Previous studies using mitochondrial control region and nuclear transcriptome-wide SNP data detected introgressive hybridization in multiple northern B. bombina populations after unreported release of toads from Austria. Here, we determine the impact of this introgression by comparing the body conditions (proxy for fitness) of introgressed and nonintrogressed populations and the genetic consequences in two candidate genes for putative local adaptation (the MHC II gene as part of the adaptive immune system and the stress response gene HSP70 kDa). We detected regional differences in body condition and observed significantly elevated levels of within individual MHC allele counts in introgressed Swedish populations, associated with a tendency toward higher body weight, relative to regional nonintrogressed populations. These differences were not observed among introgressed and nonintrogressed German populations. Genetic diversity in both MHC and HSP was generally lower in northern than Austrian populations. Our study sheds light on the potential benefits of translocations of more distantly related conspecifics as a means to increase adaptive genetic variability and fitness of genetically depauperate range margin populations without distortion of local adaptation.}, language = {en} } @misc{DeCahsanWestburyDrewsetal.2019, author = {De Cahsan, Binia and Westbury, Michael V. and Drews, Hauke and Tiedemann, Ralph}, title = {The complete mitochondrial genome of a European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) from Germany}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {532}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42322}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-423222}, pages = {3}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The European fire-bellied toad, Bombina bombina, is a small aquatic toad belonging to the family Bombinatoridae. The species is native to the lowlands of Central and Eastern Europe, where population numbers have been in decline in recent past decades. Here, we present the first complete mitochondrial genome of the endangered European fire-bellied toad from Northern Germany recovered using iterative mapping. Phylogenetic analyses including other representatives of the Bombinatoridae placed our German specimen as sister to a Polish B. bombina sequence with high support. This finding is congruent with the postulated Pleistocene history of the species. Our complete mitochondrial genome represents an important resource for further population analysis of the European fire-bellied toad, especially those found within Germany.}, language = {en} } @misc{FolkertsmaWestburyEccardetal.2018, author = {Folkertsma, Remco and Westbury, Michael V. and Eccard, Jana and Hofreiter, Michael}, title = {The complete mitochondrial genome of the common vole, Microtus arvalis (Rodentia: Arvicolinae)}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {481}, issn = {1866-8372}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-412994}, pages = {2}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The common vole, Microtus arvalis belongs to the genus Microtus in the subfamily Arvicolinae. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of M. arvalis was recovered using shotgun sequencing and an iterative mapping approach using three related species. Phylogenetic analyses using the sequence of 21 arvicoline species place the common vole as a sister species to the East European vole (Microtus levis), but as opposed to previous results we find no support for the recognition of the genus Neodon within the subfamily Arvicolinae, as this is, as well as the genus Lasiopodomys, found within the Microtus genus.}, language = {en} }