The Genetic Structure of Natural Populations of Past and

O'Brien, Stephen J.

Abstract

Novel nuclear and mitochondrial genetic markers have been developed and described in various species improving our ability to assess patterns of genetic variation within and among species and to reconstruct historical evolutionary events. The results have indicated abundant molecular genetic diversity among South American species, leopards, bobcats and limited variation in North American pumas, tigers, Iberian lynx, and previously documented bottlenecked cheetahs, pumas and lions. Concordant phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies of feline immunodeficiency virus transmission among free-ranging cat populations allows a glimpse of the process of emerging infections in species well suited for discovery of these events. Insight gained from these studies reveals evolved mechanisms for immune and natural defenses against fatal infections and neoplastic diseases. Animal Models for AIDS

Funding Agency

• Agency: National Institute of Health (NIH)
• Institute: Division of Basic Sciences - NCI (NCI)
• Type: Intramural Research (Z01)
• Project #: 1Z01BC005367-18
• Application #: 6558899
• Study Section: (LGD)
• Support Year: 18
• Fiscal Year: 2001

Institution

• Name: Basic Sciences
• Country: United States

Publications

Luo, Shu-Jin; Johnson, Warren E; Martenson, Janice et al. (2008) Subspecies genetic assignments of worldwide captive tigers increase conservation value of captive populations. Curr Biol 18:592-6

Trigo, T C; Freitas, T R O; Kunzler, G et al. (2008) Inter-species hybridization among Neotropical cats of the genus Leopardus, and evidence for an introgressive hybrid zone between L. geoffroyi and L. tigrinus in southern Brazil. Mol Ecol :

Menotti-Raymond, Marilyn; David, Victor A; Pflueger, Solveig M et al. (2008) Patterns of molecular genetic variation among cat breeds. Genomics 91:1-11

Napolitano, Constanza; Bennett, Magdalena; Johnson, Warren E et al. (2008) Ecological and biogeographical inferences on two sympatric and enigmatic Andean cat species using genetic identification of faecal samples. Mol Ecol 17:678-90

Wilting, Andreas; Buckley-Beason, Valerie A; Feldhaar, Heike et al. (2007) Clouded leopard phylogeny revisited: support for species recognition and population division between Borneo and Sumatra. Front Zool 4:15

Johnson, Warren E; Eizirik, Eduardo; Pecon-Slattery, Jill et al. (2006) The late Miocene radiation of modern Felidae: a genetic assessment. Science 311:73-7

Kim, Jae-Heup; Antunes, Agostinho; Luo, Shu-Jin et al. (2006) Evolutionary analysis of a large mtDNA translocation (numt) into the nuclear genome of the Panthera genus species. Gene 366:292-302

Teeling, Emma C; Springer, Mark S; Madsen, Ole et al. (2005) A molecular phylogeny for bats illuminates biogeography and the fossil record. Science 307:580-4

Roca, Alfred L; Georgiadis, Nicholas; O'Brien, Stephen J (2005) Cytonuclear genomic dissociation in African elephant species. Nat Genet 37:96-100

Troyer, Jennifer L; Pecon-Slattery, Jill; Roelke, Melody E et al. (2005) Seroprevalence and genomic divergence of circulating strains of feline immunodeficiency virus among Felidae and Hyaenidae species. J Virol 79:8282-94