RT Journal
A1 Choo, Siew Woh
A1 Rayko, Mike
A1 Tan, Tze King
A1 Hari, Ranjeev
A1 Komissarov, Aleksey
A1 Wee, Wei Yee
A1 Yurchenko, Andrey A.
A1 Kliver, Sergey
A1 Tamazian, Gaik
A1 Antunes, Agostinho
A1 Wilson, Richard K.
A1 Warren, Wesley C.
A1 Koepfli, Klaus-Peter
A1 Minx, Patrick
A1 Krasheninnikova, Ksenia
A1 Kotze, Antoinette
A1 Dalton, Desire L.
A1 Vermaak, Elaine
A1 Paterson, Ian C.
A1 Dobrynin, Pavel
A1 Sitam, Frankie Thomas
A1 Rovie-Ryan, Jeffrine J.
A1 Johnson, Warren E.
A1 Yusoff, Aini Mohamed
A1 Luo, Shu-Jin
A1 Karuppannan, Kayal Vizi
A1 Fang, Gang
A1 Zheng, Deyou
A1 Gerstein, Mark B.
A1 Lipovich, Leonard
A1 O'Brien, Stephen J.
A1 Wong, Guat Jah
T1 Pangolin genomes and the evolution of mammalian scales and immunity
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2016 
FD October 01 
VO 26 
IS 10 
SP 1312 
OP 1322 
DO 10.1101/gr.203521.115 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/26/10/1312.abstract 
AB Pangolins, unique mammals with scales over most of their body, no teeth, poor vision, and an acute olfactory system, comprise the only placental order (Pholidota) without a whole-genome map. To investigate pangolin biology and evolution, we developed genome assemblies of the Malayan (Manis javanica) and Chinese (M. pentadactyla) pangolins. Strikingly, we found that interferon epsilon (IFNE), exclusively expressed in epithelial cells and important in skin and mucosal immunity, is pseudogenized in all African and Asian pangolin species that we examined, perhaps impacting resistance to infection. We propose that scale development was an innovation that provided protection against injuries or stress and reduced pangolin vulnerability to infection. Further evidence of specialized adaptations was evident from positively selected genes involving immunity-related pathways, inflammation, energy storage and metabolism, muscular and nervous systems, and scale/hair development. Olfactory receptor gene families are significantly expanded in pangolins, reflecting their well-developed olfaction system. This study provides insights into mammalian adaptation and functional diversification, new research tools and questions, and perhaps a new natural IFNE-deficient animal model for studying mammalian immunity.