In collaboration with Li Yu’s research team from Yunnan University, the research team of Jianquan Liu, professor of the College of Life Sciences, SCU, published a research paper entitled “Hybrid Origin of a Primate, the Gray Snub-Nosed Monkey” in Science on June 2. The paper reveals the origin of gray snub-nosed monkeys in Guizhou through methods such as comparative genomics, population genomics, and molecular functional experiments.
The hybrid origin and genetic basis of mosaic coat coloration for the gray snub-nosed monkey.
This is the first time that homoploid hybridization speciation has been found in primates, revealing its important role in primate phenotype and species diversity. Unlike most recent hybrid speciation event in which two parent species still exist, one parent species of this ancient hybrid speciation has been extinct and differentiated into two existing species.
This research constitutes one important part of the primate genome special issue of Science. Professor Hong Wu, Dr. Yuxing Zhang of Li Yu's team, and Dr. Zefu Wang of Jianquan Liu's team (now a professor of Nanjing Forestry University), are the co first authors of this paper; and Jianquan Liu and Li Yu are the corresponding authors.
A new model of speciation in homoploid hybridization
Speciation of ancient homoploid hybridization between higher taxa
“We report a notable example of hybrid speciation in primates and present a detailed evolutionary scenario from the genomic admixture to the likely reproductive isolation establishment owing to alternate inheritance of divergent alleles from parents. This study highlights the underappreciated role of interspecific hybridization in species and phenotypic diversity in mammals.” (Conclusion)
Jianquan Liu started work at Sichuan University in 2012 as a professor and doctoral student advisor. He was selected as a national distinguished professor (2008) and a national leading talent (2016).
Having been a "highly cited scholar in China" of Elsevier (ecology, bioscience, agriculture) since 2016, he has won more than 10 awards, including the National Hundred Excellent Doctoral Dissertations Award (2001), the second prizein China's State Natural Science Award(2004, 3/5), the China Youth Science and Technology Award (2007), the Top 10 Scientific and Technological Progress in Chinese Universities (2012), and the First Prize of the Ministry of Education in Natural Science. He was elected a corresponding member, an honorable life time membership of the Botanical Society of America in 2020.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abl499
