Mitogenome Diversity and Phylogeny of Felidae Species

作者：Jiaojiao Yu, Yu Xiang, Wenlei Bi, Zusheng Li, Yanshan Zhou, Rui Ma, Feifei Feng, Chong Huang, Jiang Gu, Wei Wu, Guanwei Lan, Long Zhang, Chao Chen, Fei Xue, Jiabin Liu · 发表于：Diversity · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/d17090634 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies、Genetic diversity and population structure、Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

As apex predators, felids (Felidae) face unresolved phylogenetic controversies due to their recent rapid speciation and remarkable morphological conservatism. Previous studies, often relying on a limited number of genetic markers, were constrained by insufficient data and conflicting phylogenetic signals, leaving these disputes unresolved. Therefore, establishing a robust phylogenetic framework based on larger-scale genomic data is crucial. This study integrated complete mitogenomes from 37 species representing all major felid genera to characterize genomic diversity, selection pressures, and phylogenetic relationships. Results revealed conserved gene content and arrangement patterns but significant intergenic variation in nucleotide composition, with the light-strand encoded ND6 exhibiting pronounced strand-specific bias. Nucleotide diversity was highest in ND4L (Pi = 0.132) and ATP6 (Pi = 0.131), suggesting their utility as novel markers for species delimitation and population studies. Selection pressure analysis indicated strong purifying selection on cytochrome oxidase subunits (e.g., COX1 Ka/Ks = 0.00327) but relaxed constraints on ATP8 (Ka/Ks = 0.12304). Phylogenies reconstructed from the complete 13PCGs + 2rRNAs dataset (showing high congruence between maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods) clearly delineated Felidae into two primary clades (Pantherinae and Felinae), confirming monophyly of all genera and positioning Neofelis nebulosa as the basal lineage within Pant...