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The genetics of migration in the Asian houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii

Dissertation (MSc (Bioinformatics))--University of Pretoria, 2022.

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Other Authors: Hoareau, Thierry
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2023
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Hoareau, Thierry
author_browse Hoareau, Thierry
author_facet Hoareau, Thierry
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2022 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc (Bioinformatics))--University of Pretoria, 2022.
format Thesis
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:37:24.530Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/89509 The genetics of migration in the Asian houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii Hoareau, Thierry albertien.vanheerden@gmail.com Joubert, Fourie Van Heerden, Albertien Asian houbara Migration Candidate gene Conservation genetics Genome annotation UCTD Dissertation (MSc (Bioinformatics))--University of Pretoria, 2022. Migration allows birds to adapt to environmental conditions by moving to lower latitudes in winter and therefore overcoming low resource availability at their breeding grounds. This movement is optimized by population-specific strategies regarding timing, direction and duration of migration. Variation in migratory behaviour can be a consequence of adaptations to the environment driven by endogenous genetic mechanisms, but much uncertainty exists around the potential influence of these mechanisms on the migration process. In Asian houbara, both resident and migrant individuals occur across the distribution range. This partial migrant species can give precious insights on the genetic mechanisms underlying migration. To address these evolutionary questions on Asian houbara, it is crucial to have a solid genomic foundation with a high-quality genome assembly and a robust annotation. To explore the influence of genetic mechanisms on the migration of Asian houbara, we evaluated and compared the genomic resource already available for the species, we provided an improved annotation of its genome, and finally investigated genomic regions potentially involved in the evolution of migratory behaviour (using a candidate gene approach) using samples distributed across the whole distribution range and representing individuals with contrasted migratory behaviour. We first evaluated the quality of the recent assembly and showed that it is 10-fold more contiguous (N50=2.88Mb) than the previous one and provides a completeness exceeding 96% based on the BUSCO protocol. Combining this genome assembly with four transcriptomic datasets (blood and embryos), we achieved a more complete annotation for Asian houbara reaching 17,992 genes, which is close to the 20,000 genes found in chicken. From the literature, we identified 14 candidate genes that have been linked to migration in birds, including the well-studied CLOCK and ADCYAP1 genes. Mining the new genome assembly, we found 13 of these candidate gene regions. We used hierarchical groupings (AMOVA), to evaluate the effect of migratory behaviour (migrant/resident) and geographic locations on the genetic variance. Sampling locations played a significant role on the genetic variation at seven candidate genes, and migratory behaviour had a significant effect on the variance of at least one gene (DIO2), highlighting its potential role in the migration of Asian houbara. The DIO2 gene has been shown to play a significant role in the metabolism of long-distance migrants in Swainson's thrush. Creating haplotype networks and haplotype heatmaps with the coding sequences of 13 genes confirm the role of geography, and reveal the possible role of migratory behaviour in other genes. Further investigation of amino acid changes in the coding sequences also supports these findings. The improved genomic resource for Asian houbara provides us with the potential to further investigate genomic variation in this species. It also provides a reference that can be used in the genome assembly and annotation of closely related species. The candidate gene approach in the present study gives further insights into genes that are potentially linked to migration which opens perspectives for future investigations and the conservation of Asian houbara. International Fund for Houbara Conservation (IFHC) Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology (BGM) MSc (Bioinformatics) 2023-02-14T13:57:28Z 2023-02-14T13:57:28Z 2023-05-05 2022 Dissertation * A2023 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/89509 en © 2022 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. PDF application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Asian houbara
Migration
Candidate gene
Conservation genetics
Genome annotation
UCTD
The genetics of migration in the Asian houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii
title The genetics of migration in the Asian houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii
title_full The genetics of migration in the Asian houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii
title_fullStr The genetics of migration in the Asian houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii
title_full_unstemmed The genetics of migration in the Asian houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii
title_short The genetics of migration in the Asian houbara bustard Chlamydotis macqueenii
title_sort genetics of migration in the asian houbara bustard chlamydotis macqueenii
topic Asian houbara
Migration
Candidate gene
Conservation genetics
Genome annotation
UCTD
url https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/89509