Evolution of a Predator: How Big Cats Became Carnivores

By Tia Ghose, Sta" Writer | September 17, 2013

The Siberian tiger, also known as Panthera tigris altaica

The biggest and perhaps most fearsome of the world's big cats, the tiger
shares 95.6 percent of its DNA with humans' cute and furry companions,
domestic cats.

That's one of the ndings from the newly sequenced genomes of tigers,
snow leopards and lions.

The new research showed that big cats have genetic mutations that
enabled them to be carnivores. The team also identied mutations that
allow snow leopards to thrive at high altitudes.

The ndings, detailed today (Sept. 17) in the journal Nature
Communications, could help conservation e"orts by preventing closely
related captive animals from breeding, said Jong Bhak, a geneticist at the
Personal Genomics Institute in South Korea.

Lions and tigers

Tigers are the biggest members of the cat family and are closely related to
other big cats, such as snow leopards and lions. The predatory felines are
critically endangered, and only 3,050 to 3,950 tigers are thought to remain
in the wild. Without tiger conservation, most scientists believe the iconic
orange cats will eventually go extinct.

To aid those e"orts, Bhak and his colleagues sequenced the genome of a
9-year-old Amur tiger living in the Everland Zoo in South Korea. The team
also acquired DNA from around the world and compared the Amur tiger
genome with that of the white Bengal tiger, the African lion, the white
African lion and the snow leopard.

The tiger shares 95.6 percent of its genome with the domestic cat, from
which it diverged about 10.8 million years ago, the comparison showed.

In addition, several genes were altered in metabolic pathways associated
with protein digestion and metabolism, or how the body uses fuel like
food to power cells. Those changes, which evolved over tens of millions
of years, likely enable the majestic felines to digest and rely solely on
meat, Bhak said.

Big cats also have several mutations that make for powerful, fast-acting
muscles a necessity when chasing down prey.

The team also found two genes in the snow leopard that allow it to thrive
in the low-oxygen conditions of its high-altitude habitat in the Himalayan
Mountains. Those genetic changes are similar to ones found in the naked
mole rat, which also lives in low-oxygen conditions, though underground.
In addition, the genetic analysis identied the mutations that give Bengal
tigers and white African lions their distinctive white coats, Bhak said.

The new results could aid conservation e"orts by giving scientists a tool
to estimate genetic diversity in the wild.

By sequencing the genomes of tigers and other endangered cats like
snow leopards, "we can nd whether they are inbreeding," Bhak told
LiveScience. "If their population diversity is very low, then one u virus
can kill a lot of them quickly, because they have the same genetic
makeup."

Scientists can then take measures to introduce fresh blood into the
population, which could make it more resilient.

The genomes can also aid captive breeding programs by helping zoos
choose animals that aren't closely related for mating, he added.





http://www.livescience.com/39695-tiger-lion-leopard-genome-
sequenced.html