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Recalibrating Equus evolution using the genome sequence of an early Middle Pleistocene horse

Overview of attention for article published in Nature, June 2013
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
92 news outlets
blogs
23 blogs
twitter
90 X users
patent
1 patent
facebook
19 Facebook pages
wikipedia
35 Wikipedia pages
googleplus
1 Google+ user
reddit
1 Redditor
video
3 YouTube creators

Citations

dimensions_citation
702 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
909 Mendeley
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5 CiteULike
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Title
Recalibrating Equus evolution using the genome sequence of an early Middle Pleistocene horse
Published in
Nature, June 2013
DOI 10.1038/nature12323
Pubmed ID
Authors

Ludovic Orlando, Aurélien Ginolhac, Guojie Zhang, Duane Froese, Anders Albrechtsen, Mathias Stiller, Mikkel Schubert, Enrico Cappellini, Bent Petersen, Ida Moltke, Philip L. F. Johnson, Matteo Fumagalli, Julia T. Vilstrup, Maanasa Raghavan, Thorfinn Korneliussen, Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, Josef Vogt, Damian Szklarczyk, Christian D. Kelstrup, Jakob Vinther, Andrei Dolocan, Jesper Stenderup, Amhed M. V. Velazquez, James Cahill, Morten Rasmussen, Xiaoli Wang, Jiumeng Min, Grant D. Zazula, Andaine Seguin-Orlando, Cecilie Mortensen, Kim Magnussen, John F. Thompson, Jacobo Weinstock, Kristian Gregersen, Knut H. Røed, Véra Eisenmann, Carl J. Rubin, Donald C. Miller, Douglas F. Antczak, Mads F. Bertelsen, Søren Brunak, Khaled A. S. Al-Rasheid, Oliver Ryder, Leif Andersson, John Mundy, Anders Krogh, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Kurt Kjær, Thomas Sicheritz-Ponten, Lars Juhl Jensen, Jesper V. Olsen, Michael Hofreiter, Rasmus Nielsen, Beth Shapiro, Jun Wang, Eske Willerslev

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.

X Demographics

X Demographics

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 909 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 11 1%
United Kingdom 8 <1%
Germany 7 <1%
Canada 3 <1%
Japan 3 <1%
Denmark 3 <1%
Spain 2 <1%
France 2 <1%
Mexico 2 <1%
Other 9 <1%
Unknown 859 94%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 223 25%
Researcher 165 18%
Student > Master 117 13%
Student > Bachelor 106 12%
Other 35 4%
Other 147 16%
Unknown 116 13%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 411 45%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 151 17%
Earth and Planetary Sciences 40 4%
Environmental Science 36 4%
Arts and Humanities 26 3%
Other 102 11%
Unknown 143 16%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 964. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 26 December 2023.
All research outputs
#17,235
of 25,554,853 outputs
Outputs from Nature
#1,739
of 98,238 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#62
of 209,178 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature
#9
of 1,019 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,554,853 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 98,238 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 102.6. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 209,178 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 1,019 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.