Biology Faculty Articles

Title

Genomic Inferences from Afrotheria and the Evolution of Elephants

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2005

Publication Title

Current Opinion in Genetics and Development

ISSN

0959-437X

Volume

15

Issue/No.

9

First Page

652

Last Page

659

Abstract

Recent genetic studies have established that African forest and savanna elephants are distinct species with dissociated cytonuclear genomic patterns, and have identified Asian elephants from Borneo and Sumatra as conservation priorities. Representative of Afrotheria, a superordinal clade encompassing six eutherian orders, the African savanna elephant was among the first mammals chosen for whole-genome sequencing to provide a comparative understanding of the human genome. Elephants have large and complex brains and display advanced levels of social structure, communication, learning and intelligence. The elephant genome sequence might prove useful for comparative genomic studies of these advanced traits, which have appeared independently in only three mammalian orders: primates, cetaceans and proboscideans.

Comments

©2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Additional Comments

National Cancer Institute contract #: N01-CO-12400

ORCID ID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015

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