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Amhed Missael Vargas Velazquez

Bio: Amhed Missael Vargas Velazquez is an academic researcher from École Normale Supérieure. The author has contributed to research in topics: Domestication & Ancient DNA. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 8 publications receiving 2559 citations. Previous affiliations of Amhed Missael Vargas Velazquez include University of Copenhagen & National Autonomous University of Mexico.

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Journal ArticleDOI
Erich D. Jarvis1, Siavash Mirarab2, Andre J. Aberer3, Bo Li4, Bo Li5, Bo Li6, Peter Houde7, Cai Li6, Cai Li5, Simon Y. W. Ho8, Brant C. Faircloth9, Benoit Nabholz, Jason T. Howard1, Alexander Suh10, Claudia C. Weber10, Rute R. da Fonseca11, Jianwen Li, Fang Zhang Zhang, Hui Li, Long Zhou, Nitish Narula7, Nitish Narula12, Liang Liu13, Ganesh Ganapathy1, Bastien Boussau, Shamsuzzoha Bayzid2, Volodymyr Zavidovych1, Sankar Subramanian14, Toni Gabaldón15, Salvador Capella-Gutierrez, Jaime Huerta-Cepas, Bhanu Rekepalli16, Bhanu Rekepalli17, Kasper Munch18, Mikkel H. Schierup18, Bent E. K. Lindow11, Wesley C. Warren19, David A. Ray, Richard E. Green20, Michael William Bruford21, Xiangjiang Zhan21, Xiangjiang Zhan22, Andrew Dixon, Shengbin Li4, Ning Li23, Yinhua Huang23, Elizabeth P. Derryberry24, Elizabeth P. Derryberry25, Mads F. Bertelsen26, Frederick H. Sheldon25, Robb T. Brumfield25, Claudio V. Mello27, Claudio V. Mello28, Peter V. Lovell28, Morgan Wirthlin28, Maria Paula Cruz Schneider27, Francisco Prosdocimi27, José Alfredo Samaniego11, Amhed Missael Vargas Velazquez11, Alonzo Alfaro-Núñez11, Paula F. Campos11, Bent O. Petersen29, Thomas Sicheritz-Pontén29, An Pas, Thomas L. Bailey, R. Paul Scofield30, Michael Bunce31, David M. Lambert14, Qi Zhou, Polina L. Perelman32, Amy C. Driskell33, Beth Shapiro20, Zijun Xiong, Yongli Zeng, Shiping Liu, Zhenyu Li, Binghang Liu, Kui Wu, Jin Xiao, Xiong Yinqi, Quiemei Zheng, Yong Zhang, Huanming Yang, Jian Wang, Linnéa Smeds10, Frank E. Rheindt34, Michael J. Braun35, Jon Fjeldså11, Ludovic Orlando11, F. Keith Barker6, Knud A. Jønsson6, Warren E. Johnson33, Klaus-Peter Koepfli33, Stephen J. O'Brien36, David Haussler, Oliver A. Ryder, Carsten Rahbek6, Eske Willerslev11, Gary R. Graves6, Gary R. Graves33, Travis C. Glenn13, John E. McCormack37, Dave Burt38, Hans Ellegren10, Per Alström, Scott V. Edwards39, Alexandros Stamatakis3, David P. Mindell40, Joel Cracraft6, Edward L. Braun41, Tandy Warnow42, Tandy Warnow2, Wang Jun, M. Thomas P. Gilbert6, M. Thomas P. Gilbert31, Guojie Zhang5, Guojie Zhang11 
12 Dec 2014-Science
TL;DR: A genome-scale phylogenetic analysis of 48 species representing all orders of Neoaves recovered a highly resolved tree that confirms previously controversial sister or close relationships and identifies the first divergence in Neoaves, two groups the authors named Passerea and Columbea.
Abstract: To better determine the history of modern birds, we performed a genome-scale phylogenetic analysis of 48 species representing all orders of Neoaves using phylogenomic methods created to handle genome-scale data. We recovered a highly resolved tree that confirms previously controversial sister or close relationships. We identified the first divergence in Neoaves, two groups we named Passerea and Columbea, representing independent lineages of diverse and convergently evolved land and water bird species. Among Passerea, we infer the common ancestor of core landbirds to have been an apex predator and confirm independent gains of vocal learning. Among Columbea, we identify pigeons and flamingoes as belonging to sister clades. Even with whole genomes, some of the earliest branches in Neoaves proved challenging to resolve, which was best explained by massive protein-coding sequence convergence and high levels of incomplete lineage sorting that occurred during a rapid radiation after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event about 66 million years ago.

1,624 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
04 Jul 2013-Nature
TL;DR: Thealyses suggest that the Equus lineage giving rise to all contemporary horses, zebras and donkeys originated 4.0–4.5 million years before present, twice the conventionally accepted time to the most recent common ancestor of the genus Equus, and supports the contention that Przewalski's horses represent the last surviving wild horse population.
Abstract: The rich fossil record of equids has made them a model for evolutionary processes. Here we present a 1.12-times coverage draft genome from a horse bone recovered from permafrost dated to approximately 560-780 thousand years before present (kyr BP). Our data represent the oldest full genome sequence determined so far by almost an order of magnitude. For comparison, we sequenced the genome of a Late Pleistocene horse (43 kyr BP), and modern genomes of five domestic horse breeds (Equus ferus caballus), a Przewalski's horse (E. f. przewalskii) and a donkey (E. asinus). Our analyses suggest that the Equus lineage giving rise to all contemporary horses, zebras and donkeys originated 4.0-4.5 million years before present (Myr BP), twice the conventionally accepted time to the most recent common ancestor of the genus Equus. We also find that horse population size fluctuated multiple times over the past 2 Myr, particularly during periods of severe climatic changes. We estimate that the Przewalski's and domestic horse populations diverged 38-72 kyr BP, and find no evidence of recent admixture between the domestic horse breeds and the Przewalski's horse investigated. This supports the contention that Przewalski's horses represent the last surviving wild horse population. We find similar levels of genetic variation among Przewalski's and domestic populations, indicating that the former are genetically viable and worthy of conservation efforts. We also find evidence for continuous selection on the immune system and olfaction throughout horse evolution. Finally, we identify 29 genomic regions among horse breeds that deviate from neutrality and show low levels of genetic variation compared to the Przewalski's horse. Such regions could correspond to loci selected early during domestication.

708 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors sequenced two ancient horse genomes from Taymyr, Russia (at 7.4 and 24.3fold coverage) and compared these genomes with genomes of domesticated horses and the wild Przewalski's horse and found genetic structure within Eurasia in the Late Pleistocene.
Abstract: The domestication of the horse ∼5.5 kya and the emergence of mounted riding, chariotry, and cavalry dramatically transformed human civilization. However, the genetics underlying horse domestication are difficult to reconstruct, given the near extinction of wild horses. We therefore sequenced two ancient horse genomes from Taymyr, Russia (at 7.4- and 24.3-fold coverage), both predating the earliest archeological evidence of domestication. We compared these genomes with genomes of domesticated horses and the wild Przewalski’s horse and found genetic structure within Eurasia in the Late Pleistocene, with the ancient population contributing significantly to the genetic variation of domesticated breeds. We furthermore identified a conservative set of 125 potential domestication targets using four complementary scans for genes that have undergone positive selection. One group of genes is involved in muscular and limb development, articular junctions, and the cardiac system, and may represent physiological adaptations to human utilization. A second group consists of genes with cognitive functions, including social behavior, learning capabilities, fear response, and agreeableness, which may have been key for taming horses. We also found that domestication is associated with inbreeding and an excess of deleterious mutations. This genetic load is in line with the “cost of domestication” hypothesis also reported for rice, tomatoes, and dogs, and it is generally attributed to the relaxation of purifying selection resulting from the strong demographic bottlenecks accompanying domestication. Our work demonstrates the power of ancient genomes to reconstruct the complex genetic changes that transformed wild animals into their domesticated forms, and the population context in which this process took place.

258 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA genome and shotgun genomic data from two exceptionally well-preserved 7,000-year-old Mesolithic individuals from La Braña-Arintero site in León suggests a remarkable genetic uniformity and little phylogeographic structure over a large geographic area of the pre-Neolithic populations.

168 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that genome-wide epigenetic information can be gathered directly from next-generation sequence reads of DNA isolated from ancient remains, laying the foundation for extracting epigenomic information from ancient samples, allowing shifts in epialleles to be tracked through evolutionary time, as well as providing an original window into modern epigenomics.
Abstract: Epigenetic information is available from contemporary organisms, but is difficult to track back in evolutionary time. Here, we show that genome-wide epigenetic information can be gathered directly from next-generation sequence reads of DNA isolated from ancient remains. Using the genome sequence data generated from hair shafts of a 4000-yr-old Paleo-Eskimo belonging to the Saqqaq culture, we generate the first ancient nucleosome map coupled with a genome-wide survey of cytosine methylation levels. The validity of both nucleosome map and methylation levels were confirmed by the recovery of the expected signals at promoter regions, exon/intron boundaries, and CTCF sites. The top-scoring nucleosome calls revealed distinct DNA positioning biases, attesting to nucleotide-level accuracy. The ancient methylation levels exhibited high conservation over time, clustering closely with modern hair tissues. Using ancient methylation information, we estimated the age at death of the Saqqaq individual and illustrate how epigenetic information can be used to infer ancient gene expression. Similar epigenetic signatures were found in other fossil material, such as 110,000- to 130,000-yr-old bones, supporting the contention that ancient epigenomic information can be reconstructed from a deep past. Our findings lay the foundation for extracting epigenomic information from ancient samples, allowing shifts in epialleles to be tracked through evolutionary time, as well as providing an original window into modern epigenomics.

148 citations


Cited by
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TL;DR: The approach to utilizing available RNA-Seq and other data types in the authors' manual curation process for vertebrate, plant, and other species is summarized, and a new direction for prokaryotic genomes and protein name management is described.
Abstract: The RefSeq project at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) maintains and curates a publicly available database of annotated genomic, transcript, and protein sequence records (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/refseq/). The RefSeq project leverages the data submitted to the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC) against a combination of computation, manual curation, and collaboration to produce a standard set of stable, non-redundant reference sequences. The RefSeq project augments these reference sequences with current knowledge including publications, functional features and informative nomenclature. The database currently represents sequences from more than 55,000 organisms (>4800 viruses, >40,000 prokaryotes and >10,000 eukaryotes; RefSeq release 71), ranging from a single record to complete genomes. This paper summarizes the current status of the viral, prokaryotic, and eukaryotic branches of the RefSeq project, reports on improvements to data access and details efforts to further expand the taxonomic representation of the collection. We also highlight diverse functional curation initiatives that support multiple uses of RefSeq data including taxonomic validation, genome annotation, comparative genomics, and clinical testing. We summarize our approach to utilizing available RNA-Seq and other data types in our manual curation process for vertebrate, plant, and other species, and describe a new direction for prokaryotic genomes and protein name management.

4,104 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: PartitionFinder 2 is a program for automatically selecting best-fit partitioning schemes and models of evolution for phylogenetic analyses that includes the ability to analyze morphological datasets, new methods to analyze genome-scale datasets, and new output formats to facilitate interoperability with downstream software.
Abstract: PartitionFinder 2 is a program for automatically selecting best-fit partitioning schemes and models of evolution for phylogenetic analyses. PartitionFinder 2 is substantially faster and more efficient than version 1, and incorporates many new methods and features. These include the ability to analyze morphological datasets, new methods to analyze genome-scale datasets, new output formats to facilitate interoperability with downstream software, and many new models of molecular evolution. PartitionFinder 2 is freely available under an open source license and works on Windows, OSX, and Linux operating systems. It can be downloaded from www.robertlanfear.com/partitionfinder. The source code is available at https://github.com/brettc/partitionfinder.

3,445 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A multithreaded program suite called ANGSD that can calculate various summary statistics, and perform association mapping and population genetic analyses utilizing the full information in next generation sequencing data by working directly on the raw sequencing data or by using genotype likelihoods.
Abstract: High-throughput DNA sequencing technologies are generating vast amounts of data. Fast, flexible and memory efficient implementations are needed in order to facilitate analyses of thousands of samples simultaneously. We present a multithreaded program suite called ANGSD. This program can calculate various summary statistics, and perform association mapping and population genetic analyses utilizing the full information in next generation sequencing data by working directly on the raw sequencing data or by using genotype likelihoods. The open source c/c++ program ANGSD is available at http://www.popgen.dk/angsd . The program is tested and validated on GNU/Linux systems. The program facilitates multiple input formats including BAM and imputed beagle genotype probability files. The program allow the user to choose between combinations of existing methods and can perform analysis that is not implemented elsewhere.

1,795 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work presents BUSCO v3 with example analyses that highlight the wide‐ranging utility of BUSCO assessments, which extend beyond quality control of genomics data sets to applications in comparative genomics analyses, gene predictor training, metagenomics, and phylogenomics.
Abstract: Genomics promises comprehensive surveying of genomes and metagenomes, but rapidly changing technologies and expanding data volumes make evaluation of completeness a challenging task. Technical sequencing quality metrics can be complemented by quantifying completeness of genomic data sets in terms of the expected gene content of Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO, http://busco.ezlab.org). The latest software release implements a complete refactoring of the code to make it more flexible and extendable to facilitate high-throughput assessments. The original six lineage assessment data sets have been updated with improved species sampling, 34 new subsets have been built for vertebrates, arthropods, fungi, and prokaryotes that greatly enhance resolution, and data sets are now also available for nematodes, protists, and plants. Here, we present BUSCO v3 with example analyses that highlight the wide-ranging utility of BUSCO assessments, which extend beyond quality control of genomics data sets to applications in comparative genomics analyses, gene predictor training, metagenomics, and phylogenomics.

1,575 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Environment for Tree Exploration v3 is presented, featuring numerous improvements in the underlying library of methods, and providing a novel set of standalone tools to perform common tasks in comparative genomics and phylogenetics.
Abstract: The Environment for Tree Exploration (ETE) is a computational framework that simplifies the reconstruction, analysis, and visualization of phylogenetic trees and multiple sequence alignments. Here, we present ETE v3, featuring numerous improvements in the underlying library of methods, and providing a novel set of standalone tools to perform common tasks in comparative genomics and phylogenetics. The new features include (i) building gene-based and supermatrix-based phylogenies using a single command, (ii) testing and visualizing evolutionary models, (iii) calculating distances between trees of different size or including duplications, and (iv) providing seamless integration with the NCBI taxonomy database. ETE is freely available at http://etetoolkit.org.

1,452 citations