title: Genome-wide patterns of copy number variation in the Chinese yak genome.
abstract: Copy number variation (CNV) represents an important source of genetic divergence that can produce drastic phenotypic differences and may therefore be subject to selection during domestication and environmental adaptation. To investigate the evolutionary dynamics of CNV in the yak genome, we used a read depth approach to detect CNV based on genome resequencing data from 14 wild and 65 domestic yaks and determined CNV regions related to domestication and adaptations to high-altitude.
  
  
  
  We identified 2,634 CNV regions (CNVRs) comprising a total of 153 megabases (5.7 % of the yak genome) and 3,879 overlapping annotated genes. Comparison between domestic and wild yak populations identified 121 potentially selected CNVRs, harboring genes related to neuronal development, reproduction, nutrition and energy metabolism. In addition, we found 85 CNVRs that are significantly different between domestic yak living in high- and low-altitude areas, including three genes related to hypoxia response and six related to immune defense. This analysis shows that genic CNVs may play an important role in phenotypic changes during yak domestication and adaptation to life at high-altitude.
  
  
  
  We present the first refined CNV map for yak along with comprehensive genomic analysis of yak CNV. Our results provide new insights into the genetic basis of yak domestication and adaptation to living in a high-altitude environment, as well as a valuable genetic resource that will facilitate future CNV association studies of important traits in yak and other bovid species.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Lizhong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Yongzhi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Zhengqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xiuyue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xuemin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. wandsh@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dongshi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agroecosystem, College of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China. qiuqiang@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D002417:Cattle; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D056915:DNA Copy Number Variations; D005828:Genetics, Population; D016678:Genome; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D023281:Genomics; D005843:Geography; D056916:Segmental Duplications, Genomic
keywords: Copy number variation; Domestication; High altitude adaptation; Yak