Evaluating the Phylogenetic Position of Chinese Tree Shrew
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Available online at www.sciencedirect.com JGG Journal of Genetics and Genomics 39 (2012) 131e137 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Evaluating the Phylogenetic Position of Chinese Tree Shrew (Tupaia belangeri chinensis) Based on Complete Mitochondrial Genome: Implication for Using Tree Shrew as an Alternative Experimental Animal to Primates in Biomedical Research Ling Xu a,b, Shi-Yi Chen c, Wen-Hui Nie d, Xue-Long Jiang d, Yong-Gang Yao a,* a Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China b Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China c Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya’an, Sichuan 625014, China d State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China Received 13 October 2011; revised 25 December 2011; accepted 5 January 2012 Available online 18 February 2012 ABSTRACT Tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri) is currently placed in Order Scandentia and has a wide distribution in Southeast Asia and Southwest China. Due to its unique characteristics, such as small body size, high brain-to-body mass ratio, short reproductive cycle and life span, and low-cost of maintenance, tree shrew has been proposed to be an alternative experimental animal to primates in biomedical research. However, there are some debates regarding the exact phylogenetic affinity of tree shrew to primates. In this study, we determined the mtDNA entire genomes of three Chinese tree shrews (T. belangeri chinensis) and one Malayan flying lemur (Galeopterus variegatus). Combined with the published data for species in Euarchonta, we intended to discern the phylogenetic relationship among representative species of Dermoptera, Scandentia and Primates. The mtDNA genomes of Chinese tree shrews and Malayan flying lemur shared similar gene organization and structure with those of other mammals. Phylogenetic analysis based on 12 concatenated mitochondrial protein- encoding genes revealed a closer relationship between species of Scandentia and Glires, whereas species of Dermoptera were clus- tered with Primates. This pattern was consistent with previously reported phylogeny based on mtDNA data, but differed from the one reconstructed on the basis of nuclear genes. Our result suggested that the matrilineal affinity of tree shrew to primates may not be as close as we had thought. The ongoing project for sequencing the entire genome of Chinese tree shrew will provide more information to clarify this important issue. KEYWORDS: Chinese tree shrew; mtDNA; Phylogeny; Animal model; Flying lemur 1. INTRODUCTION Worp et al., 2010). Due to ethical issues and protection for human health and environment, the use of animal models in Our knowledge of the pathogenesis of human disease has biomedical research continues and will be our Hobson’s choice been facilitated by using animal models, though a large in a long period. Considering the restrictions in practical usage number of significant results from animal experiments have not of nonhuman primate animals, it is urgent and necessary to find been successfully translated into clinical practice (van der an alternative animal to primate in biomedical research. Such an alternative should contain a variety of specific features, such * Corresponding author. Tel/fax: þ86 871 518 0085. as enormous resource, cost-effectiveness, easy maintenance, E-mail address: [email protected] (Y.-G. Yao). and most importantly, close affinity to human. 1673-8527/$ - see front matter Copyright Ó 2012, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Genetics Society of China. Published by Elsevier Limited and Science Press. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jgg.2012.02.003 132 L. Xu et al. / Journal of Genetics and Genomics 39 (2012) 131e137 Despite the fact that the exact phylogenetic status of tree Tree shrew H1-HD had been selected for the entire genome shrews (Family Tupaiidae) has been under debate for many sequencing by using the second-generation sequencing years, there seems to be a consensus that this species had methods and the data will be published separately. A cell line of a close affinity to primates (Peng et al., 1991; Murphy et al., Malayan flying lemur (G. variegatus) was retrieved from the 2001; Seiffert et al., 2003; Janecka et al., 2007). Morpholog- Kunming Cell Bank, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese ically, tree shrews resemble squirrels and rats in body size, Academy of Sciences. with small adult body weight (80e204 g) (Wang, 1987), Genomic DNA was extracted from tissue samples and relatively short life span (9e12 years), and short reproductive cell line using the standard phenol/chloroform method. We cycle. They also had the highest brain-to-body mass ratio of designed eleven and eight pairs of primers to amplify the any known mammals (Peng et al., 1991). All these unique entire mtDNA genome of Chinese tree shrews and Malayan features facilitate easy-to-handle experimental processes and flying lemur, respectively (Table S1). PCR amplification was cost-effectiveness. The natural habitats of Tupaiidae species performed in a volume of 50 mL reaction mixture containing are restricted to tropical and subtropical forests that extend 100 ng of DNA, 10 mmol/L Tris-HCl (pH 8.3), 2.5 mmol/L from India to the Philippines and from Southern China to Java, MgCl2, 50 mmol/L KCl, 200 mmol/L of each dNTP, 10 pmol/L Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali (Fuchs and Corbach-So¨hle, 2010). of each primer, and one unit of LA TaqÔ DNA polymerase In a recent study, Roberts and coworkers (2011) had deter- (TaKaRa Biotech Co., Dalian, China). Amplification started mined the molecular phylogeny of tree shrews and found with a denaturation cycle at 95C for 4 min, followed by 30 a deep divergence between the two families (Ptilocercidae and cycles of 30 s at 94C, 30 s at 53C, and ended with a final Tupaiidae), as well as, between Dendrogale and all other extension cycle for 2 min at 72C. PCR products were purified genera within Tupaiidae. on spin columns and directly sequenced using Big Dye Chinese tree shrews are mainly distributed across South- Terminator v3.1 Cycle Sequencing Kit (Applied Biosystems, west China (including Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, Carlsbad, USA) on an ABI 3730 DNA sequencer according to and Hainan Province) (Wang, 1987) and have been classified the manufacturer’s manual. We used several inner sequencing as Tupaia belangeri (Helgen, 2005). Wang (1987) suggested primers, together with the primers for PCR amplification that Chinese tree shrews could be classified into six subspecies (Table S1), to cordially generate sequences so that each according to their geographical, morphological, and morpho- fragment will be read in both strands or has multiple reads for metric data. In our previous study, we found a remarkable long the light strand. Because the mtDNA control region of Chinese genetic distance between tree shrews from urban Kunming and tree shrews and flying lemur contained a chunk of tandem the reported Northern tree shrews from GenBank based on repeats, we determined the PCR fragment covering this mtDNA control region sequence variation (Chen et al., 2011). region by using TA cloning and sequencing. In brief, PCR We noticed that the eight T. belangeri samples that were products were ligated into pMD19-T vector (TaKaRa Biotech mainly collected from Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia Co.) and transformed to DH5a cells (Tiangen, China). For were also clearly separated in the tree by Roberts et al. (2011), each fragment, three to five plasmids were selected for which suggested that we should consider genetic difference sequencing. Plasmid sequencing was performed with universal between tree shrews from different regions when using them to primers M13F (-47) (50-CGCCAGGGTTTTCCCAGTCACG establish animal models. AC-30) and M13R (-48) (50-AGCGGATAACAATTTCACAC In this study, we determined the complete mitochondrial AGGA-30). genome of three Chinese tree shrews (T. belangeri chinensis) The entire mtDNA sequences of Chinese tree shrews and to obtain more information regarding the phylogenetic status Malayan flying lemur have been deposited in GenBank under of this species. One Malayan flying lemur (Galeopterus var- accession Nos. JN800721eJN800724. iegatus) was also sequenced for the entire mtDNA sequence. Combined with the published data for species in Euarchonta, 2.2. Prediction of mtDNA gene organization and we intended to discern the phylogenetic relationship among structure representative species of Rodentia, Lagomorpha, Dermoptera, Scandentia, and Primates. The locations of 13 protein-coding genes and two ribo- somal RNA (12S and 16S rRNA) genes in Chinese tree shrew 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS and Malayan flying lemur were determined by comparing with the published mitochondrial genome of Northern tree 2.1. Sampling, DNA amplification and sequencing shrew (GenBank accession No. NC_002521) and Sunda flying lemur (AF460846.1 and NC_004031.1), respectively. We We collected muscle tissues from three Chinese tree shrews predicted the transfer RNA (tRNA) genes using program (samples H1, H5, and H1-HD) that were initially captured tRNAscan-SE 1.21 (Lowe and Eddy, 1997). Some tRNA from urban Kunming and were raised at the experimental genes, e.g., tRNA-Ser (AGY) which was not predicted by the animal core facility of Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese tRNAscan-SE program (http://selab.janelia.org/tRNAscan-