Filogenia calibrada en el tiempo y secuencia completa del mitogenoma del lobo marino de las Galápagos (Zalophus wollebaeki) a partir de ADN de excremento

Lobo marino de Galápagos.

acarina Asadobay, Diego O. Urquía, Sven Künzel, Sebastian A. Espinoza-Ulloa, Miguel Vences, Diego Páez-Rosas​.

Resumen 
Antecedentes
El lobo marino de las Galápagos, Zalophus wollebaeki, es una especie de otárido endémica y en peligro de extinción, considerada como una especie centinela de la dinámica del ecosistema en el archipiélago de las Galápagos. El ADN mitocondrial es una herramienta importante en la inferencia filogenética y genética de poblaciones. En este trabajo, utilizamos la secuenciación Illumina para complementar los recursos mitogenómicos del género Zalophus, ya que las otras dos especies se secuenciaron mediante Sanger, generando un genoma mitocondrial completo y un reloj molecular de esta especie, que hasta ahora no estaba disponible.

Materiales y métodos
Utilizamos ADN obtenido de una muestra fresca de excremento de un lobo marino de las Galápagos y lo secuenciamos mediante la plataforma Illumina NextSeq. Las lecturas crudas obtenidas se procesaron utilizando el software GetOrganelle para filtrar las lecturas de ADN mitocondrial de Zalophus (aproximadamente el 16% sobrevivió al filtrado), se ensamblaron y se estableció un reloj molecular.

Resultados
A partir de las 3,511,116 lecturas crudas obtenidas, pudimos ensamblar un mitogenoma completo con una longitud de 16,676 pares de bases, que consta de 13 genes codificadores de proteínas (PCGs), 22 ARN de transferencia (tARN) y dos ARN ribosómicos (rARN). Una filogenia calibrada en el tiempo confirmó la posición filogenética de Z. wollebaeki en un clado con Z. californianus y Z. japonicus, siendo hermano de Z. californianus, y estableció el tiempo de divergencia de Z. wollebaeki hace 0.65 millones de años. Nuestro estudio ilustra la posibilidad de secuenciar sin problemas genomas mitocondriales completos a partir de muestras frescas de excremento de mamíferos marinos.

Conoce más del artículo científico en el siguiente enlace: https://peerj.com/articles/16047/

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In 2022, the Galapagos Science Center (GSC) and the broader UNC & USFQ Galapagos Initiative will celebrate its 10th Anniversary. We are proud to announce the World Summit on Island Sustainability scheduled to be held on June 26–30, 2022 at the Galapagos Science Center and the Community Convention Center on San Cristobal Island.

The content of the World Summit will be distributed globally through social media and results documented through papers published in a book written as part of the Galapagos Book Series by Springer Nature and edited by Steve Walsh (UNC) & Carlos Mena (USFQ) as well as Jill Stewart (UNC) and Juan Pablo Muñoz (GSC/USC). The book will be inclusive and accessible by the broader island community including scientists, managers, residents, tourists, and government and non-government organizations.

While the most obvious goal of organizing the World Summit on Island Sustainability is to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the GSC and the UNC-USFQ Galapagos Initiative, other goals will be addressed through special opportunities created as part of our operational planning of the World Summit.

For instance, we seek to elevate and highlight the Galapagos in the island conservation discourse, seeking to interact with other island networks in more obvious and conspicuous ways to benefit the Galapagos Islands, the UNC-USFQ Galapagos Initiative, and the world. We will seize the opportunity to further develop the I2N2 – International Islands Network-of-Networks. Further, we wish to highlight and emphasize multiple visions of a sustainable future for the Galapagos Islands and we cannot do this alone. Therefore, engaging the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Tourism, the Government Council of Galapagos, the Galapagos National Park, and local Galapagos authorities, including government and non-government organizations and local citizen groups, is imperative.

The Galapagos Science Center on San Cristobal Island, Galapagos

Borrowing from Hawaii’s and Guam’s Green Growth Program and the Global Island Partnership, we wish to examine existing global programs that emphasize island sustainability and their incorporation into life, policies, and circumstances in the Galapagos Islands. We will also seek to enhance our connections with the institutional members of our International Galapagos Science Consortium and expand the Consortium through the recruitment of other member institutions. We will also work to benefit islands and their local communities by working with citizen groups as well as important NGOs who seek to improve the natural conditions in the Galapagos and diminish the impact of the human dimension on the future of Galapagos’ ecosystems.

Lastly, we will use the World Summit to benefit UNC & USFQ and our constituencies through a strong and vibrant communication plan about the World Summit, creating corporate relationships as sponsors, identifying funding goals through donors, and benefiting our study abroad program for student engagement in the Galapagos Islands. We plan to develop and issue a Galapagos Sustainability Communique after the World Summit that includes the vision and insights of all its participants for a sustainable Galapagos with applicability to global island settings.

We are eager to hear your perspective and have you join us at the World Summit on Island Sustainability!