大熊猫和小熊猫属于食肉目中不同的科，其中大熊猫属于熊科，小熊猫属于鼬超科中的小熊猫科。然而，这两种系统发生上较远的食肉目物种却进化出相同的专食竹子的食性及适应竹子食性的伪拇指。因此，大熊猫和小熊猫是理想的适应性进化和趋同进化研究模型。然而，目前我们对大、小熊猫这些趋同的生理与形态性状的遗传学基础仍然一无所知。本项目拟对小熊猫进行全基因组de novo测序和对大熊猫基因组组装进行升级，然后应用比较基因组学方法，在全基因组水平，研究大熊猫和小熊猫基因的适应性进化信号，从基因功能的适应性趋同、基因家族进化、假基因化及肠道菌群进化等方面全面探讨大熊猫和小熊猫生理与形态性状趋同的遗传学信号，以期揭示大、小熊猫趋同进化的遗传学机制，研究结果将加深对大、小熊猫进化生物学的认识，同时也为趋同进化这一进化生物学热点问题提供新的研究素材，促进趋同进化的基因组模式及机制的规律性认识。

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and red panda (Ailurus fulgens) belong to different families of the order Carnivora, with the giant panda located in the family Ursidae and the red panda in the Ailuridae among the superfamily Musteloidea. But the two phylogenetically distant carnivoran species have evolved the same bamboo diet and adaptive pseudo-thumb, representing an ideal model of adaptive evolution and convergent evolution. However, the genetic bases of these physiological and morphological convergences remain unknown. Based on the de novo sequencing of red panda genome and improved giant panda genome, we will study the genome-wide adaptive evolution of giant and red pandas, and the genetic bases of their phenotypic convergence from the perspectives of the adaptive convergence of functional genes, gene family evolution, pseudogenization and gut microbiome evolution, using a comparative genomics strategy. We aim to understand the genetic convergence mechanisms underlying phenotypic convergence and the adaptation to a specialized bamboo diet, which will provide rich insights into the evolution biology of both pandas and has important implications for general understanding of convergent evolution across different taxa.