Abstract
Tigers are among the most charismatic of endangered species, yet little is known about their evolutionary history. We sequenced 65 individual genomes representing extant tiger geographic range. We found strong genetic differentiation between putative tiger subspecies, divergence within the last 10,000 years, and demographic histories dominated by population bottlenecks. Indian tigers have substantial genetic variation and substructure stemming from population isolation and intense recent bottlenecks here. Despite high genetic diversity across India, individual tigers host longer runs of homozygosity, potentially suggesting recent inbreeding here. Amur tiger genomes revealed the strongest signals of selection and over-representation of gene ontology categories potentially involved in metabolic adaptation to cold. Novel insights highlight the antiquity of northeast Indian tigers. Our results demonstrate recent evolution, with differential isolation, selection and drift in extant tiger populations, providing insights for conservation and future survival.
