Genomic evidence for the Chinese mountain cat as a wildcat conspecific (Felis silvestris bieti) and its introgression to domestic cats

Genomic evidence reveals the Chinese mountain cat as a wildcat subspecies with introgression to sympatric domestic cats. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau endemic Chinese mountain cat has a controversial taxonomic status, whether it is a true species or a wildcat (Felis silvestris) subspecies and whether it has contributed to cat (F. s. catus) domestication in East Asia. Here, we sampled F. silvestris lineages across China and sequenced 51 nuclear genomes, 55 mitogenomes, and multilocus regions from 270 modern or museum specimens. Genome-wide analyses classified the Chinese mountain cat as a wildcat conspecific F. s. bieti, which was not involved in cat domestication of China, thus supporting a single domestication origin arising from the African wildcat (F. s. lybica). A complex hybridization scenario including ancient introgression from the Asiatic wildcat (F. s. ornata) to F. s. bieti, and contemporary gene flow between F. s. bieti and sympatric domestic cats that are likely recent Plateau arrivals, raises the prospect of disrupted wildcat genetic integrity, an issue with profound conservation implications.

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Science Advances

• Publication date

  2020-12-07

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abg0221PMID 34162544PMCID 8221621
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Threat

  2020influential reference
• The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world

  2017cited by this paper
• Genome-wide signatures of complex introgression and adaptive evolution in the big cats

  2017cited by this paper
• A revised taxonomy of the Felidae : The final report of the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group

  2017cited by this paper
• Disentangling Timing of Admixture, Patterns of Introgression, and Phenotypic Indicators in a Hybridizing Wolf Population

  2017cited by this paper
• The genomic mosaicism of hybrid speciation

  2017cited by this paper
• Whole-genome analysis of introgressive hybridization and characterization of the bovine legacy of Mongolian yaks

  2017cited by this paper
• Genomics of hybridization and its evolutionary consequences

  2016cited by this paper
• Whole-genome sequence analysis shows that two endemic species of North American wolf are admixtures of the coyote and gray wolf

  2016cited by this paper
• Phylogenomic evidence for ancient hybridization in the genomes of living cats (Felidae)

  2016cited by this paper
• Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

  2016cited by this paper
• Genetic ancestry of the extinct Javan and Bali tigers.

  2015cited by this paper
• Evidence of long-term gene flow and selection during domestication from analyses of Eurasian wild and domestic pig genomes

  2015cited by this paper
• Evidence for archaic adaptive introgression in humans

  2015cited by this paper
• Sympatric Asian felid phylogeography reveals a major Indochinese–Sundaic divergence

  2014cited by this paper
• Gibbon genome and the fast karyotype evolution of small apes

  2014cited by this paper
• Gibbon genome and the fast karyotype evolution of small apes

  2014cited by this paper
• Genetic analysis shows low levels of hybridization between African wildcats (Felis silvestris lybica) and domestic cats (F. s. catus) in South Africa

  2014cited by this paper
• Genome Sequencing Highlights the Dynamic Early History of Dogs

  2014cited by this paper
• BEAST 2: A Software Platform for Bayesian Evolutionary Analysis

  2014cited by this paper
• Comparative analysis of mammalian Y chromosomes illuminates ancestral structure and lineage-specific evolution

  2013cited by this paper
• Earliest evidence for commensal processes of cat domestication

  2013cited by this paper
• Development of SNP markers identifying European wildcats, domestic cats, and their admixed progeny

  2013cited by this paper
• The genomics of selection in dogs and the parallel evolution between dogs and humans

  2013cited by this paper
• MEGA6: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 6.0.

  2013cited by this paper
• MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference and Model Choice Across a Large Model Space

  2012cited by this paper
• CircadiOmics: integrating circadian genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics

  2012cited by this paper
• Ancient Admixture in Human History

  2012cited by this paper
• Nuclear Genomic Sequences Reveal that Polar Bears Are an Old and Distinct Bear Lineage

  2012cited by this paper
• Inferring Admixture Histories of Human Populations Using Linkage Disequilibrium

  2012cited by this paper
• Urban Carnivores: Ecology, Conflict, and Conservation

  2011cited by this paper
• Inference of human population history from individual whole-genome sequences.

  2011cited by this paper
• Molecular evidence for a single evolutionary origin of domesticated rice

  2011cited by this paper
• Bayesian inference of ancient human demography from individual genome sequences

  2011cited by this paper
• A statistical framework for SNP calling, mutation discovery, association mapping and population genetical parameter estimation from sequencing data

  2011influential reference
• Testing for ancient admixture between closely related populations.

  2011cited by this paper
• Inference of Human Population History From Whole Genome Sequence of A Single Individual

  2011cited by this paper
• A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome

  2010cited by this paper
• The Genome Analysis Toolkit: a MapReduce framework for analyzing next-generation DNA sequencing data.

  2010cited by this paper
• New algorithms and methods to estimate maximum-likelihood phylogenies: assessing the performance of PhyML 3.0.

  2010cited by this paper
• Sequence analysis Advance Access publication June 7, 2011 The variant call format and VCFtools

  2010cited by this paper
• Earliest domestication of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in East Asia extended to 10,000 years ago

  2009cited by this paper
• Molecular and Evolutionary History of Melanism in North American Gray Wolves

  2009cited by this paper
• The Sequence Alignment/Map format and SAMtools

  2009cited by this paper
• Reconstructing Indian Population History

  2009cited by this paper
• Modelling the dynamic biogeography of the wildcat: implications for taxonomy and conservation

  2009cited by this paper
• Fast model-based estimation of ancestry in unrelated individuals.

  2009cited by this paper
• Hybridization versus conservation: are domestic cats threatening the genetic integrity of wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris) in Iberian Peninsula?

  2008cited by this paper
• State of cat genomics

  2008cited by this paper
• Molecular analysis of hybridisation between wild and domestic cats (Felis silvestris) in Portugal: implications for conservation

  2008cited by this paper
• Implications for Conservation

  2008cited by this paper
• Species concepts and species delimitation.

  2007cited by this paper
• Clustal W and Clustal X version 2.0

  2007cited by this paper
• The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication

  2007cited by this paper
• Population Structure and Eigenanalysis

  2006cited by this paper
• The Late Miocene Radiation of Modern Felidae: A Genetic Assessment

  2006influential reference
• Principal components analysis corrects for stratification in genome-wide association studies

  2006cited by this paper
• Bayesian analyses of admixture in wild and domestic cats (Felis silvestris) using linked microsatellite loci

  2005cited by this paper
• Ernst Mayr and the modern concept of species

  2005cited by this paper
• Ernst Mayr and the modern concept of species

  2005cited by this paper
• Cytonuclear genomic dissociation in African elephant species

  2005cited by this paper
• Distribution and conservation status of the endemic Chinese mountain cat Felis bieti

  2004cited by this paper
• Theoretical and practical advances in genome halving

  2004cited by this paper
• APE: Analyses of Phylogenetics and Evolution in R language

  2004cited by this paper
• Widespread occurrence of a domestic dog mitochondrial DNA haplotype in southeastern US coyotes

  2003cited by this paper
• Y chromosome conserved anchored tagged sequences (YCATS) for the analysis of mammalian male‐specific DNA

  2002influential reference
• The problems with hybrids: setting conservation guidelines

  2001cited by this paper
• Genetic diversity and introgression in the Scottish wildcat

  2001cited by this paper
• Genetic identification of wild and domestic cats (Felis silvestris) and their hybrids using Bayesian clustering methods.

  2001cited by this paper
• Approach to dynamic relationship between population,resources,environment and development of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

  2000cited by this paper
• TCS: a computer program to estimate gene genealogies

  2000cited by this paper
• Cytonuclear Disequilibria in Hybrid Zones

  1993cited by this paper
• Felis silvestris.

  1991cited by this paper

• Craniological differentiation amongst Southeast Asian small cats

  2025cites this paper
• Evaluating Indicators of Intentionality, Flexibility, and Goal-Association in Domestic Cat (Felis silvestris catus) Facial Signals.

  2025cites this paper
• The late arrival of domestic cats in China via the Silk Road after 3,500 years of human-leopard cat commensalism.

  2025cites this paper
• Millions of pet videos deepen our understanding of human–cat interactions with implications for management

  2025cites this paper
• Toward telomere-to-telomere cat genomes for precision medicine and conservation biology

  2024cites this paper
• Structural variant landscapes reveal convergent signatures of evolution in sheep and goats

  2024cites this paper
• Challenges and opportunities in human dimensions behind cat–wildlife conflict

  2024cites this paper
• Altai Mountains – cradle of hybrids and introgressants: A case study in Veronica subg. Pseudolysimachium (Plantaginaceae)

  2024cites this paper
• Deep Ancestral Introgressions between Ovine Species Shape Sheep Genomes via Argali-Mediated Gene Flow

  2024cites this paper
• Phylogenomics and Pervasive Genome-Wide Phylogenetic Discordance Among Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus)

  2024cites this paper
• Morphological observation, molecular identification and evolutionary analysis of Hydatigera kamiyai found in Neodon fuscus from the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

  2024cites this paper
• Limited historical admixture between European wildcats and domestic cats.

  2023cites this paper
• Feline Faces: Unraveling the Social Function of Domestic Cat Facial Signals.

  2023cites this paper
• Genetic swamping of the critically endangered Scottish wildcat was recent and accelerated by disease.

  2023cites this paper
• A system for designating taxonomic certainty in mammals and other taxa

  2022cites this paper
• Genome Sequencing of a Gray Wolf from Peninsular India Provides New Insights into the Evolution and Hybridization of Gray Wolves

  2022cites this paper
• Taxonomic species recognition should be consistent

  2022cites this paper
• Chromosome-level, nanopore-only genome and allele-specific DNA methylation of Pallas's cat, Otocolobus manul

  2022cites this paper
• Genetics of randomly bred cats support the cradle of cat domestication being in the Near East

  2022cites this paper
• Chromosome-level assembly of Gymnocypris eckloni genome

  2022cites this paper
• A system for designating taxonomic certainty in mammals and other taxa

  2022cites this paper
• Impact of the Anthropocene on the status of the world's small carnivores: A global macroecological perspective

  2022cites this paper
• Evolutionary Biology and Gene Editing of Cat Allergen, Fel d 1

  2022cites this paper
• Chromosome-Scale Genome of Masked Palm Civet (Paguma larvata) Shows Genomic Signatures of Its Biological Characteristics and Evolution

  2022cites this paper
• Whole-genome resequencing of worldwide wild and domestic sheep 4 elucidates genetic diversity , introgression and agronomically 5 important loci 6

  2021cites this paper
• Whole-Genome Resequencing of Worldwide Wild and Domestic Sheep Elucidates Genetic Diversity, Introgression, and Agronomically Important Loci

  2021cites this paper
• Pan-mitochondrial genomic analysis of Felis catus : Insights into cat domestication

  year unknowninfluential citation