Mustelidae, as the largest and most-diverse family of order Carnivora, comprises eight subfamilies. Phylogenetic relationships among these Mustelidae subfamilies remain argumentative subjects in recent years due to Mustelids’ rapid evolutionary radiation and recent speciation.

In order to clarify Mustelidae subfamilies’ phylogenetic relationships, the research group headed by academician ZHANG Yaping from Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed 17 nuclear non-coding loci (>15kb), in conjunction with mitochondrial complete genomes (>16kb).

The combined nuclear intron and mitochondrial genome analyses both robustly support that Taxidiinae diverges first, followed by Melinae, Lutrinae and Mustelinae grouped together in all analyses with strong supports. The position of Helictidinae, however, is enigmatic because the mitochondrial genome analysis places it to the clade uniting Lutrinae and Mustelinae, whereas the nuclear intron analysis favores a novel view supporting a closer relationship of Helictidinae to Martinae.

The study not only brings new perspectives on the previously obscured phylogenetic relationships among Mustelidae subfamilies, but also provides another example demonstrating the effectiveness of nuclear non-coding loci for reconstructing evolutionary histories in a group that has undergone rapid bursts of speciation.

The main findings have been published in BMC Evolutionary Biology (2011, 11: 92).