Genomes of critically endangered saola are shaped by population structure and purging
The saola is one of the most elusive large mammals, standing at the brink of extinction. We constructed a reference genome and resequenced 26 saola individuals, confirming the saola as a basal member of the Bovini. Despite its small geographic range, we found that the saola is partitioned into two populations with high genetic differentiation (F<sub>ST</sub> = 0.49). We estimate that these populations diverged and started declining 5,000-20,000 years ago, possibly due to climate changes and exacerbated by increasing human activities. The saola has long tracts without genomic diversity; however, most of these tracts are not shared by the two populations. Saolas carry a high genetic load, yet their gradual decline resulted in the purging of the most deleterious genetic variation. Finally, we find that combining the two populations, e.g., in an eventual captive breeding program, would mitigate the genetic load and increase the odds of species survival.
Authors
- Cindy G. Santander (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3021-6809)
- Hernán E. Morales (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2964-020X)
- Shanlin Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8118-8313)
- Rasmus Heller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6583-6923)
- Anders Albrechtsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7306-031X)
- Martha Maud Hurley
- Trung Tien Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4256-8951)
- Mikkel‐Holger S. Sinding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1371-219X)
- Faezah Mohd Salleh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7492-583X)
- Chentao Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3447-2316)
- Dzung Huy Nguyen
- Jazmín Ramos‐Madrigal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1661-7991)
- Nicholas Wilkinson
- Hans R. Siegismund (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5757-3131)
- Duy Nguyen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4852-4538)
- Robert R. Dunn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6030-4837)
- Kristian Hanghøj (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1941-5495)
- Fátima Sánchez Barreiro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5902-0052)
- Marcus Thomas P. Gilbert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5805-7195)
- Ida Moltke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7052-8554)
- Guojie Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6860-1521)
- Patrícia Pečnerová (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9350-1987)
- Malthe Sebro Rasmussen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2982-6258)
- Mikkel Schubert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2401-9921)
- Frederik Filip Stæger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2295-8637)
- Nuno Filipe Gomes Martins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9759-7602)
- Guanliang Meng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6488-1527)
- Genís Garcia‐Erill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3150-1708)
- Hung D. Nguyen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4845-9534)
- Lei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3989-9239)
- Wen Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7801-2066)
- Xi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4704-4687)
- Minh Đức Lê (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2953-2815)
- Ha Manh Nguyen
Institutions
- BGI Group (China) (CN)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Vinh University (VN)
- American Museum of Natural History (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VN)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (DE)
- Natural History Museum Aarhus (DK)
- Institute of Zoology (KZ)
- Cat Tien National Park (VN)
- Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (VN)
- Oldham Council (GB)
- BGI Research (CN)
- University of Technology Malaysia (MY)
- IT University of Copenhagen (DK)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cell
- Published
- 2025-05-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.03.040
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.22
Funders
- Ministry of Science and Technology
- Villum Fonden
- National Research Foundation
- Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Carlsbergfondet
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
- Novo Nordisk
- Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond
- Novo Nordisk Fonden
- Disney Conservation Fund
- Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
- H2020 European Research Council