Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA in Subfossil Lemurs

该项目包括从马达加斯加已灭绝的灵长类动物的不同组合中提取、扩增和测序线粒体DNA。这些巨大的狐猴大约在2000年前开始消失，这一过程在过去几百年内最终灭绝。这些动物的进化起源和它们的消失一样神秘。这项拟议的研究将使用古老的DNA技术来调查它们的起源和灭亡。该项目最初的重点将是重建已灭绝的旅鼠和现存的旅鼠之间的系统发育关系。这一结果将对理解非常多样化的哺乳动物群体的形态和生态进化以及理解马达加斯加和非洲的生物地理历史具有重要意义。还将尽可能研究灭绝狐猴种群内的遗传多样性模式。由于多样性减少几乎肯定是现存狐猴种群的特征，探索已知灭绝事件的遗传模式似乎是权宜之计，以期在未来避免此类危机。该项目的结果将增加与DNA随时间变化研究相关的越来越多的信息。这一越来越有价值的领域在各种学科中都有应用，如有机病原体(如艾滋病病毒)的分析和控制、生物地理学、系统发育学、生理学和保护生物学，仅举几例。

This project involves the extraction, amplification, and sequencing of mitochondrial DNA from a diverse assemblage of extinct primates from Madagascar. These giant lemurs began to disappear approximately 2000 years ago, a process that was completed with their final extinction within the past several hundred years. The evolutionary origins of these animals are as mysterious as their disappearance. The proposed research will employ ancient DNA techniques to investigate both their origins and their demise. The initial focus of the project will be on reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships among and between the extinct and living lemuriforms. The results will be significant for understanding morphological and ecological evolution in a remarkably diverse group of mammals as well as for understanding the biogeographic history of Madagascar and Africa. Patterns of genetic diversity within extinct lemur populations will also be examined to the extent possible. As dwindling diversity is almost certainly characteristic of living lemuriform populations, it seems expedient to explore the genetic patterns of a known extinction event with an eye towards avoiding such crises in the future. The results of the project will add to a growing body of information relevant to the study of DNA change over time. This increasingly valuable field has applications for disciplines as diverse as the analysis and control of organic pathogens (e.g., the AIDS virus), biogeography, phylogenetics, physiology, and conservation biology, just to name a few.