IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Yu, L.; Zhang, Y. | |
| Phylogenetic studies of pantherine cats (Felidae) based on multiple genes, with novel application of nuclear á-fibrinogen intron 7 to carnivores | |
| 2005 Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (35): 483-495 | |
The pantherine lineage of the cat family Felidae (order: Carnivora) includes five big cats of genus _Panthera _and a great many midsized cats known worldwide. Presumably because of their recent and rapid radiation, the evolutionary relationship among pantherines remains ambiguous. We provide an independent assessment of the evolutionary history of pantherine lineage using two complete mitochondrial (mt) genes (ND2 and ND4) and the nuclear ƒ-fibrinogen intron 7 gene, whose utility in carnivoran phylogeny was first explored. The available four mt (ND5, cytb, 12S, and 16SrRNA) and two nuclear (IRBP and TTR) sequence loci were also combined to reconstruct phylogeny of 14 closely related cat species. Our analyses of combined mt data (six genes; ~3750 bp) and combined mt and nuclear data (nine genes; ~6500 bp) obtained identical tree topologies, which were well-resolved and strongly supported for almost all nodes. Monophyly of _Panthera _genus in pantherine lineage was confirmed and interspecific affinities within this genus revealed a novel branching pattern, with _P. tigris _diverging first in _Panthera _genus, followed by _P. onca_, _P. leo_, and last two sister species _P. pardus _and _P. uncia_. In addition, close association of _Neofelis nebulosa _to _Panthera_, the phylogenetic redefinition of _Otocolobus manul _within the domestic cat group, and the relatedness of _Acinonyx jubatus _and _Puma concolor _were all important findings in the resulting phylogenies. The potential utilities of nine different genes for phylogenetic resolution of closely related pantherine species were also evaluated, with special interest in that of the novel nuclear ƒ-fibrinogen intron 7. |
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