TY - JOUR

T1 - Recent mitochondrial lineage extinction in the critically endangered Javan rhinoceros

AU - Margaryan, Ashot

AU - Sinding, Mikkel Holger S.

AU - Shanlin, L. I.U.

AU - Vieira, Filipe Garrett

AU - Chan, Yvonne L.

AU - Nathan, Senthilvel K.S.S.

AU - Moodley, Yoshan

AU - Bruford, Michael W.

AU - P. Gilbert, M. Thomas

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - The Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is one of five extant rhinoceros species and among the rarest large mammals on Earth. Once widespread across Southeast Asia, it is now on the verge of extinction, with only one wild population remaining (estimated at ~60 individuals) on the island of Java, Indonesia. To assess the past genetic diversity of the female lineage of R. sondaicus, we generated mitochondrial genome data from eight museum specimens dating back to the 19th century, before the range of the Javan rhinoceros was dramatically reduced, for comparison against mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of current R. sondaicus and other rhinoceros species. We succeeded in reconstructing five full and three partial ancient mitogenomes from the eight samples. We used BEAST to assess the phylogenetic relationship of the five extant rhinoceros species and the historical samples. The results show that the oldest and most diverse mtDNA lineages of R. sondaicus are found in historical samples, indicating a significant reduction of mtDNA diversity in modern Javan rhinos. We anticipate that the newly sequenced data will represent a useful resource for improving our understanding of evolutionary history of this species, should future studies be able to increase the available dataset. We hope this information may help in conservation efforts for this species.

AB - The Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaicus) is one of five extant rhinoceros species and among the rarest large mammals on Earth. Once widespread across Southeast Asia, it is now on the verge of extinction, with only one wild population remaining (estimated at ~60 individuals) on the island of Java, Indonesia. To assess the past genetic diversity of the female lineage of R. sondaicus, we generated mitochondrial genome data from eight museum specimens dating back to the 19th century, before the range of the Javan rhinoceros was dramatically reduced, for comparison against mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of current R. sondaicus and other rhinoceros species. We succeeded in reconstructing five full and three partial ancient mitogenomes from the eight samples. We used BEAST to assess the phylogenetic relationship of the five extant rhinoceros species and the historical samples. The results show that the oldest and most diverse mtDNA lineages of R. sondaicus are found in historical samples, indicating a significant reduction of mtDNA diversity in modern Javan rhinos. We anticipate that the newly sequenced data will represent a useful resource for improving our understanding of evolutionary history of this species, should future studies be able to increase the available dataset. We hope this information may help in conservation efforts for this species.

KW - Ancient DNA

KW - Diversity

KW - DNA

KW - Endangered

KW - Javan rhino

KW - Mitochondrial

KW - Rhinoceros sondaicus

KW - Rhinos

U2 - 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa004

DO - 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa004

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85092927580

VL - 190

SP - 372

EP - 383

JO - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

JF - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society

SN - 0024-4082

IS - 1

ER -