Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2021

Contribution of comparative genetics to the understanding of the evolution and distribution of elephants

Résumé

The study of the genetic diversity can provide key arguments to the understanding of the evolution of elephants. Fixed mutations and polymorphisms both embody signatures of historical events at different time scales. Provided the right tools and models are used, the analysis of the amount of within diversity and the extent of molecular divergence between modern elephant groups help us to retrace their genealogy and their demography through hundreds of thousand years. This paper will review the developments in comparative genetics of the elephants since the early 2000's. It will contrast the available results obtained from the analysis of the mitochondrial genome and the nuclear genome in each lineage and discuss why their apparently conflicting signals might only reflect the difference in the mechanisms of heredity involved. I will discuss how only a synergic approach of all genomic information can provide a better understanding of the origin of the current distribution of the diversity among Asian elephants. This strategy should serve as an auxiliary tool in establishing conservation management policies relevant to limit the deleterious effects of inbreeding and maximize the evolutionary potential of the remnant populations of elephants in Asia.

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Dates et versions

mnhn-04877966 , version 1 (09-01-2025)

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  • HAL Id : mnhn-04877966 , version 1

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Régis Debruyne. Contribution of comparative genetics to the understanding of the evolution and distribution of elephants. The SOAS elephant reader, Red Notes, 2021, 978-0-906305-16-4. ⟨mnhn-04877966⟩

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