Invasion and developmental genomics in an emerging bird model: The African sacred ibis

The African sacred ibis is an alien invasive bird species that has spread rapidly in Taiwan over the past three decades. However, little information is available on the process of their invasion in Taiwan. In recent years, the Forestry Bureau of the Agricultural Committee has actively engaged in the work of removing these invasive birds. We have taken this opportunity to obtain a large number of DNA and embryo samples of the African sacred ibis with the consent of the Forest Service, making it a potentially good model system for evolutionary biology. This study propose to assemble a high-quality African sacred ibis reference gene sequence, and make a use of this reference gene sequence to conduct the population genomics study of the African sacred ibis. We will use its genetic diversity to detect the signature of natural selection in order to identify candidate genes related to invasive species adapting to the new environment. This work will provide insight into the prevention of invasive species. In addition, we also use the embryos of the African sacred ibis to study the development of long beaks. The beak is a unique biological characteristic of birds. In the past, evolutionary developmental biology research focused on a few bird species such as Darwin's finches, parrots, and domestic ducks. The long curved beak of the African sacred ibis is one of the characteristics of the family Ibis. The African sacred ibis also has the characteristics of naked neck and long feet. We will use the methods of transcriptomics and molecular developmental biology to compare the tissue samples of African sacred ibis with those of other avian species in Passeriformes, Psittaciformes, Columbiformes, Galliformes, and Anseriformes which have complete reference genomes. Understanding the genetic and molecular basis of the characteristics of the African sacred ibis is also helpful for understanding the genetic basis of the evolution of other long-billed and long-footed waterbirds, and it is also beneficial to the fields of organ development and tissue engineering.