ORCID Profile
0000-0003-2942-2840
Current Organisations
Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy and Bioprocess Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences
,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Plant Science Innovation
,
Agencia Aragonesa para la Investigacion y Desarrollo
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Publications
Dire wolves were the last of an ancient New World canid lineage
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-01-2021
Unraveling the phylogenetic relationships of the extinct bovid Myotragus balearicus Bate 1909 from the Balearic Islands
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2019
Ancient mitochondrial DNA reveals convergent evolution of giant short-faced bears (Tremarctinae) in North and South America
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 04-2016
Abstract: The Tremarctinae are a subfamily of bears endemic to the New World, including two of the largest terrestrial mammalian carnivores that have ever lived: the giant, short-faced bears Arctodus simus from North America and Arctotherium angustidens from South America (greater than or equal to 1000 kg). Arctotherium angustidens became extinct during the Early Pleistocene, whereas Arctodus simus went extinct at the very end of the Pleistocene. The only living tremarctine is the spectacled bear ( Tremarctos ornatus ), a largely herbivorous bear that is today only found in South America. The relationships among the spectacled bears ( Tremarctos ), South American short-faced bears ( Arctotherium ) and North American short-faced bears ( Arctodus ) remain uncertain. In this study, we sequenced a mitochondrial genome from an Arctotherium femur preserved in a Chilean cave. Our molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that the South American short-faced bears were more closely related to the extant South American spectacled bear than to the North American short-faced bears. This result suggests striking convergent evolution of giant forms in the two groups of short-faced bears ( Arctodus and Arctotherium ), potentially as an adaptation to dominate competition for megafaunal carcasses.
Evidence for Pleistocene gene flow through the ice-free corridor from extinct horses and camels from Natural Trap Cave, Wyoming
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2023
Molecular phylogenetics supports the origin of an endemic Balearic shrew lineage (Nesiotites) coincident with the Messinian Salinity Crisis
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.YMPEV.2018.03.028
Abstract: The red-toothed shrews (Soricinae) are the most widespread subfamily of shrews, distributed from northern South America to North America and Eurasia. Within this subfamily, the tribe Nectogalini includes the fossil species Nesiotites hidalgo recorded from the Late Pleistocene to Holocene of the Balearic Islands (Western Mediterranean). Although there is a consensus about the close relationship between the extinct red-toothed shrew genera Nesiotites and Asoriculus based on morphology, molecular data are necessary to further evaluate the phylogenetic relationships of the Balearic fossils. We obtained a near complete mitochondrial genome of N. hidalgo, allowing the first molecular phylogenetic analysis of this species. Analyses based on 15,167 bp of the mitochondrial genome placed N. hidalgo as close relative to the extant Himalayan shrew (Soriculus nigrescens), and a combined analysis using molecular and morphological data confirm that N. hidalgo and Asoriculus gibberodon are sister-taxa with S. nigrescens as the immediate outgroup. Molecular clock and ergence estimates suggest that the split between N. hidalgo and its closest living relative occurred around 6.44 Ma, which is in agreement with the previously proposed colonisation of the Balearic Islands from mainland Europe by nectogaline shrews during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.97-5.33 My ago). Our results highlight that it is possible to retrieve genetic data from extinct small mammals from marginal environments for DNA preservation. Additional finds from the fossil record of Soricinae from the Eurasian Late Miocene/Early Pliocene are needed to shed further light on the still confusing taxonomy and paleobiogeography of this clade.
Molecular resolution to a morphological controversy: The case of North American fossil muskoxen Bootherium and Symbos.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.YMPEV.2018.08.008
Abstract: The musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) is the only surviving member of a group of Pleistocene North American musk ox genera (Praeovibos, Ovibos, Bootherium, Euceratherium, and Soergelia) whose taxonomy is uncertain. The helmeted musk ox (Bootherium bombifrons) and the woodland musk ox (Symbos cavifrons) have been synonymised as male and female forms of a single Nearctic species found from Alaska, in the north, to Texas, in the south. However, this reclassification has not been tested using molecular data, despite the potential to use ancient DNA to examine these late Pleistocene taxa. In the present study, we sequenced mitochondrial genomes from seven subfossil musk ox specimens (originally identified as Bootherium and/or Symbos), allowing us to evaluate the identity of these muskoxen, explore their phylogeography, and estimate the timeline for their evolution. We also used nuclear genomic data to determine the sex of six of our seven s les. Ultimately, our molecular data support the synonymisation of the North American muskoxen Bootherium and Symbos.
Ancient DNA from an extinct Mediterranean micromammal-Hypnomys morpheus (Rodentia: Gliridae)-Provides insight into the biogeographic history of insular dormice
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 25-11-2020
DOI: 10.1111/JZS.12343
Early cave art and ancient DNA record the origin of European bison
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-10-2016
DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS13158
Abstract: The two living species of bison (European and American) are among the few terrestrial megafauna to have survived the late Pleistocene extinctions. Despite the extensive bovid fossil record in Eurasia, the evolutionary history of the European bison (or wisent, Bison bonasus ) before the Holocene ( .7 thousand years ago (kya)) remains a mystery. We use complete ancient mitochondrial genomes and genome-wide nuclear DNA surveys to reveal that the wisent is the product of hybridization between the extinct steppe bison ( Bison priscus ) and ancestors of modern cattle (aurochs, Bos primigenius ) before 120 kya, and contains up to 10% aurochs genomic ancestry. Although undetected within the fossil record, ancestors of the wisent have alternated ecological dominance with steppe bison in association with major environmental shifts since at least 55 kya. Early cave artists recorded distinct morphological forms consistent with these replacement events, around the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ∼21–18 kya).
Interplay between miRNAs and lncRNAs: Mode of action and biological roles in plant development and stress adaptation
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2021
Aboriginal mitogenomes reveal 50,000 years of regionalism in Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-03-2017
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE21416
Abstract: Aboriginal Australians represent one of the longest continuous cultural complexes known. Archaeological evidence indicates that Australia and New Guinea were initially settled approximately 50 thousand years ago (ka) however, little is known about the processes underlying the enormous linguistic and phenotypic ersity within Australia. Here we report 111 mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from historical Aboriginal Australian hair s les, whose origins enable us to reconstruct Australian phylogeographic history before European settlement. Marked geographic patterns and deep splits across the major mitochondrial haplogroups imply that the settlement of Australia comprised a single, rapid migration along the east and west coasts that reached southern Australia by 49-45 ka. After continent-wide colonization, strong regional patterns developed and these have survived despite substantial climatic and cultural change during the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. Remarkably, we find evidence for the continuous presence of populations in discrete geographic areas dating back to around 50 ka, in agreement with the notable Aboriginal Australian cultural attachment to their country.
RNA-binding protein MAC5A interacts with the 26S proteasome to regulate DNA damage response in Arabidopsis
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-11-2022
Abstract: DNA damage response (DDR) in eukaryotes is essential for the maintenance of genome integrity in challenging environments. The regulatory mechanisms of DDR have been well-established in yeast and humans. However, increasing evidence supports the idea that plants seem to employ different signaling pathways that remain largely unknown. Here, we report the role of MODIFIER OF SNC1, 4-ASSOCIATED COMPLEX SUBUNIT 5A (MAC5A) in DDR in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Lack of MAC5A in mac5a mutants causes hypersensitive phenotypes to methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), a DNA damage inducer. Consistent with this observation, MAC5A can regulate alternative splicing of DDR genes to maintain the proper response to genotoxic stress. Interestingly, MAC5A interacts with the 26S proteasome (26SP) and is required for its proteasome activity. MAC core subunits are also involved in MMS-induced DDR. Moreover, we find that MAC5A, the MAC core subunits, and 26SP may act collaboratively to mediate high-boron-induced growth repression through DDR. Collectively, our findings uncover the crucial role of MAC in MMS-induced DDR in orchestrating growth and stress adaptation in plants.
Mitogenomes Uncover Extinct Penguin Taxa and Reveal Island Formation as a Key Driver of Speciation
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 05-02-2019
Abstract: The emergence of islands has been linked to spectacular radiations of erse organisms. Although penguins spend much of their lives at sea, they rely on land for nesting, and a high proportion of extant species are endemic to geologically young islands. Islands may thus have been crucial to the evolutionary ersification of penguins. We test this hypothesis using a fossil-calibrated phylogeny of mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from all extant and recently extinct penguin taxa. Our temporal analysis demonstrates that numerous recent island-endemic penguin taxa erged following the formation of their islands during the Plio-Pleistocene, including the Galápagos (Galápagos Islands), northern rockhopper (Gough Island), erect-crested (Antipodes Islands), Snares crested (Snares) and royal (Macquarie Island) penguins. Our analysis also reveals two new recently extinct island-endemic penguin taxa from New Zealand’s Chatham Islands: Eudyptes warhami sp. nov. and a dwarf subspecies of the yellow-eyed penguin, Megadyptes antipodes richdalei ssp. nov. Eudyptes warhami erged from the Antipodes Islands erect-crested penguin between 1.1 and 2.5 Ma, shortly after the emergence of the Chatham Islands (∼3 Ma). This new finding of recently evolved taxa on this young archipelago provides further evidence that the radiation of penguins over the last 5 Ma has been linked to island emergence. Mitogenomic analyses of all penguin species, and the discovery of two new extinct penguin taxa, highlight the importance of island formation in the ersification of penguins, as well as the extent to which anthropogenic extinctions have affected island-endemic taxa across the Southern Hemisphere’s isolated archipelagos.
Island extinctions: processes, patterns, and potential for ecosystem restoration
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 24-07-2017
DOI: 10.1017/S037689291700039X
Abstract: Extinctions have altered island ecosystems throughout the late Quaternary. Here, we review the main historic drivers of extinctions on islands, patterns in extinction chronologies between islands, and the potential for restoring ecosystems through reintroducing extirpated species. While some extinctions have been caused by climatic and environmental change, most have been caused by anthropogenic impacts. We propose a general model to describe patterns in these anthropogenic island extinctions. Hunting, habitat loss and the introduction of invasive predators accompanied prehistoric settlement and caused declines of endemic island species. Later settlement by European colonists brought further land development, a different suite of predators and new drivers, leading to more extinctions. Extinctions alter ecological networks, causing ripple effects for islands through the loss of ecosystem processes, functions and interactions between species. Reintroduction of extirpated species can help restore ecosystem function and processes, and can be guided by palaeoecology. However, reintroduction projects must also consider the cultural, social and economic needs of humans now inhabiting the islands and ensure resilience against future environmental and climate change.
Closing the gap: New data on the last documented Myotragus and the first human evidence on Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean Sea)
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 28-07-2016
Abstract: The chronology of the extinction of the Balearic fossil bovid Myotragus balearicus in Mallorca and Menorca has been under discussion since its discovery in 1909, and especially in the last decades, thanks to the radiocarbon dates that have been obtained from several deposits of the island of Mallorca. Here, we present new radiocarbon dates of M. balearicus bones (including the most recent date ever obtained for the species, 4035 ± 32 BP, 2830–2470 cal. BC) that together with a newly published radiocarbon date for the evidence of the first human presence in the island (introduced Caprinae bone, 3884 ± 36 BP 2470–2210 cal. BC) allow us to reduce the uncertainty period for the Myotragus extinction (UPME) in Mallorca from 1660 to 620 years ( p 95%) or even to 350 years ( p 90%) and to reject the hypotheses suggesting a climate change–driven (i.e. non-human) extinction of the species. This new scenario points to the causal relationship between the first human arrival and the M. balearicus extinction. The chronological gap between the earliest documented M. balearicus and the first documented human presence represents one of the shortest time periods documented between endemic megafauna and humans on any Mediterranean island.
Related Organisations
Qingdao Institute Of BioEnergy And Bioprocess Technology Chinese Academy Of Sciences
Location: China
University Of Nebraska-Lincoln Plant Science Innovation
Location: United States of America
Qingdao Institute Of Bioenergy And Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy Of Sciences
Location: No location found
Related Funding Activities
No related grants have been discovered for Pedro Bover Arbos.