Journal
SCIENCE ADVANCES
Volume 8, Issue 5, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl6496
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Funding
- Clinician Scientist Programm, Medizinische Fakultat der Universitat Leipzig
- FORMAS grant [2018-01640]
- German Research Foundation [HO 3492/15-1, SCHO 624/13-1, CRC1052, 209933838]
- Revive Restore grant [03012019-5571]
- Formas [2018-01640] Funding Source: Formas
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Steller's sea cow, an extinct mammal, had genetic adaptations to cold aquatic environments and showed convergent evolution with cetaceans. Environmental changes also played a role in their extinction.
Steller's sea cow, an extinct sirenian and one of the largest Quaternary mammals, was described by Georg Steller in 1741 and eradicated by humans within 27 years. Here, we complement Steller's descriptions with paleogenomic data from 12 individuals. We identified convergent evolution between Steller's sea cow and cetaceans but not extant sirenians, suggesting a role of several genes in adaptation to cold aquatic (or marine) environments. Among these are inactivations of lipoxygenase genes, which in humans and mouse models cause ichthyosis, a skin disease characterized by a thick, hyperkeratotic epidermis that recapitulates Steller's sea cows' reportedly bark-like skin. We also found that Steller's sea cows' abundance was continuously declining for tens of thousands of years before their description, implying that environmental changes also contributed to their extinction.
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