| 1. |
- Abbott, J. K., et al.
(författare)
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Patterns of differentiation in a colour polymorphism and in neutral markers reveal rapid genetic changes in natural damselfly populations
- 2008
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 17:6, s. 1597-1604
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The existence and mode of selection operating on heritable adaptive traits can be inferred by comparing population differentiation in neutral genetic variation between populations (often using F-ST values) with the corresponding estimates for adaptive traits. Such comparisons indicate if selection acts in a diversifying way between populations, in which case differentiation in selected traits is expected to exceed differentiation in neutral markers [F-ST (selected) > F-ST (neutralfl, or if negative frequency-dependent selection maintains genetic polymorphisms and pulls populations towards a common stable equilibrium [FST (selected) < F-ST (neutral)]. Here, we compared F-ST values for putatively neutral data (obtained using amplified fragment length polymorphism) with estimates of differentiation in morph frequencies in the colour-polymorphic damselfly Ischnura elegans. We found that in the first year (2000), population differentiation in morph frequencies was significantly greater than differentiation in neutral loci, while in 2002 (only 2 years and 2 generations later), population differentiation in morph frequencies had decreased to a level significantly lower than differentiation in neutral loci. Genetic drift as an explanation for population differentiation in morph frequencies could thus be rejected in both years. These results indicate that the type and/or strength of selection on morph frequencies in this system can change substantially between years. We suggest that an approach to a common equilibrium morph frequency across all populations, driven by negative frequency-dependent selection, is the cause of these temporal changes. We conclude that inferences about selection obtained by comparing F-ST values from neutral and adaptive genetic variation are most useful when spatial and temporal data are available from several populations and time points and when such information is combined with other ecological sources of data.
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| 2. |
- Bensch, Staffan, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic, morphological, and feather isotope variation of migratory willow warblers show gradual divergence in a ring.
- 2009
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 18:14, s. 3087-96
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The circular distribution of the willow warbler Phylloscopus trochilus around the Baltic Sea shares many features with the classic examples of ring species; however, the system is much younger. It has previously been shown that a secondary contact zone is located in central Scandinavia, where there are narrow clines for several morphological traits coincident with a migratory divide. Here we analyse multiple traits and genes from > 1700 males captured on breeding territories at 77 sites spread around the Baltic Sea to test the following hypothesis. If the secondary contact zone in Scandinavia is a result of divergence in two allopatric refuge populations during the last glaciation, we expect to find a similar secondary contact zone somewhere else around the circular distribution. Our results show that the trait clines were wider and displaced from each other along the eastern side of the Baltic Sea. Analyses of 12 microsatellite loci confirmed that the genome is very similar between the terminal forms (F(ST) = 0). Two AFLP-derived markers filtered out from a genomic scan instead appear to be maintained by selection. These markers exhibited steep clines at the secondary contact zone in Scandinavia, but as for the phenotypic traits, had vastly different cline centres east of the Baltic Sea. The trait clines along the ring distribution outside the Scandinavian secondary contact zone thus seem to have been shaped by independent action of selection or drift during the process of postglacial colonization.
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| 3. |
- Eroukhmanoff, Fabrice, et al.
(författare)
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Rapid adaptive divergence between ecotypes of an aquatic isopod inferred from F-ST-Q(ST) analysis
- 2009
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - Oxford, United Kingdom : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 18:23, s. 4912-4923
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Divergent natural selection is often thought to be the principal factor driving phenotypic differentiation between populations. We studied two ecotypes of the aquatic isopod Asellus aquaticus which have diverged in parallel in several Swedish lakes. In these lakes, isopods from reed belts along the shores colonized new stonewort stands in the centre of the lakes and rapid phenotypic changes in size and pigmentation followed after colonization. We investigated if selection was likely to be responsible for these observed phenotypic changes using indirect inferences of selection (F-ST-Q(ST) analysis). Average Q(ST) for seven quantitative traits were higher than the average F-ST between ecotypes for putatively neutral markers (AFLPs). This suggests that divergent natural selection has played an important role during this rapid diversification. In contrast, the average Q(ST) between the different reed ecotype populations was not significantly different from the mean F-ST. Genetic drift could therefore not be excluded as an explanation for the minor differences between allopatric populations inhabiting the same source habitat. We complemented this traditional F-ST-Q(ST) approach by comparing the F-ST distributions across all loci (n = 67-71) with the Q(ST) for each of the seven traits. This analysis revealed that pigmentation traits had diverged to a greater extent and at higher evolutionary rates than size-related morphological traits. In conclusion, this extended and detailed type of F-ST-Q(ST) analysis provides a powerful method to infer adaptive phenotypic divergence between populations. However, indirect inferences about the operation of divergent selection should be analyzed on a per-trait basis and complemented with detailed ecological information.
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| 4. |
- Hansson, Bengt, et al.
(författare)
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Increase of genetic variation over time in a recently founded population of great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) revealed by microsatellites and DNA fingerprinting
- 2000
-
Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 9:10, s. 1529-1538
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Genetic similarity within pairs of individuals was examined using both 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci and multi-locus DNA fingerprinting profiles in a semi-isolated population of great reed warblers at Lake Kvismaren, south Central Sweden, in 1987-1993. The population was founded by a few individuals in 1978, followed by a gradual increase in numbers until 1988, since when the population has remained relatively stable with about 60 breeding birds. We have previously found that high genetic similarity between pairmates in the population during the early part of the study period reduced egg hatching success, and hence reproductive success. The measures of pairwise genetic similarity, microsatellite allele sharing and DNA fingerprinting band sharing, were highly correlated with pedigree-based relatedness. Both microsatellite and DNA fingerprinting similarities between pair-mates declined significantly over the study period, and the pattern was most pronounced in the DNA fingerprinting data. Analyses restricted to the microsatellite data showed that the average annual microsatellite similarity between pairwise combinations of individuals, as well as individual homozygosity in males, declined significantly over the study period, and that several immigrants carrying novel alleles entered the population during the study. Hence, the temporal decline in genetic similarity of mates in the population is probably a consequence of increased immigration, facilitated by the recent expansion of the species in the region. These results suggest that the population has now recovered genetically, or is in the process of recovering, from a recent founder event.
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| 5. |
- Hansson, Bengt, et al.
(författare)
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On the correlation between heterozygosity and fitness in natural populations
- 2002
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 11:12, s. 2467-2474
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Three primary hypotheses currently prevail for correlations between heterozygosity at a set of molecular markers and fitness in natural populations. First, multilocus heterozygosity-fitness correlations might result from selection acting directly on the scored loci, such as at particular allozyme loci. Second, significant levels of linkage disequilibrium, as in recently bottlenecked-and-expanded populations, might cause associations between the markers and fitness loci in the local chromosomal vicinity. Third, in partially inbred populations, heterozygosity at the markers might reflect variation in the inbreeding coefficient and might associate with fitness as a result of effects of homozygosity at genome-wide distributed loci. Despite years of research, the relative importance of these hypotheses remains unclear. The screening of heterozygosity at polymorphic DNA markers offers an opportunity to resolve this issue, and relevant empirical studies have now emerged. We provide an account of the recent progress on the subject, and give suggestions on how to distinguish between the three hypotheses in future studies.
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| 6. |
- Hellgren, Olof, et al.
(författare)
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Bird hosts, blood parasites and their vectors--associations uncovered by molecular analyses of blackfly blood meals.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 17:6, s. 1605-13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The level of host specificity of blood-sucking invertebrates may have both ecological and evolutionary implications for the parasites they are transmitting. We used blood mealsfrom wild-caught blackflies for molecular identification of parasites and hosts to examine patterns of host specificity and how these may affect the transmission of avian blood parasites of the genus Leucocytozoon. We found that five different species of ornithophilic blackflies preferred different species of birds when taking their blood meals. Of the blackflies that contained avian blood meals, 62% were infected with Leucocytozoon parasites, consisting of 15 different parasite lineages. For the blackfly species, there was a significant association between the host width (measured as the genetic differentiation between the used hosts) and the genetic similarity of the parasites in their blood meals. The absence of similar parasite in blood meals from blackflies with different host preferences is interpreted as a result of the vector–host associations. The observed associations between blackfly species and host species are therefore likely to hinder parasites to be transmitted between different host-groups, resulting in ecologically driven associations between certain parasite lineages and hosts species.
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| 7. |
- Langefors, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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Screening of Mhc variation in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) : a comparison of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and sequencing
- 2000
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 9:2, s. 215-219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We compared three different molecular methods currently used for screening of Mhc variation in population studies of Atlantic salmon. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the entire class II gene detected 22 haplotypes. Seventeen exon 2 sequences were obtained from individuals carrying the 22 haplotypes, two of which had not been detected by RFLP. The six alleles (27%) detected by RFLP and not by exon 2 sequencing probably resulted from sequence variation outside exon 2. Within exon 2, RFLP differentiated 88% of the sequences. Alternatively, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) performed under two run conditions detected 94% of the sequence variation. Both RFLP using different probes, and the two PCR-based methods using three different primer pairs, suggest that there is only a single Mhc class II B gene in the Baltic populations of Atlantic salmon.
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| 8. |
- Pommier, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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Global patterns of diversity and community structure in marine bacterioplankton
- 2007
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - : Blackwell Publishing Ltd. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 16:4, s. 867-880
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Because of their small size, great abundance and easy dispersal, it is often assumed that marine planktonic microorganisms have a ubiquitous distribution that prevents any structured assembly into local communities. To challenge this view, marine bacterioplankton communities from coastal waters at nine locations distributed world-wide were examined through the use of comprehensive clone libraries of 16S ribosomal RNA genes, used as operational taxonomic units (OTU). Our survey and analyses show that there were marked differences in the composition and richness of OTUs between locations. Remarkably, the global marine bacterioplankton community showed a high degree of endemism, and conversely included few cosmopolitan OTUs. Our data were consistent with a latitudinal gradient of OTU richness. We observed a positive relationship between the relative OTU abundances and their range of occupation, i.e. cosmopolitans had the largest population sizes. Although OTU richness differed among locations, the distributions of the major taxonomic groups represented in the communities were analogous, and all local communities were similarly structured and dominated by a few OTUs showing variable taxonomic affiliations. The observed patterns of OTU richness indicate that similar evolutionary and ecological processes structured the communities. We conclude that marine bacterioplankton share many of the biogeographical and macroecological features of macroscopic organisms. The general processes behind those patterns are likely to be comparable across taxa and major global biomes.
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| 9. |
- Stenström, A, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic variation and clonal diversity in four clonal sedges (Carex) along the Arctic coast of Eurasia
- 2001
-
Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 10:2, s. 497-513
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We studied the structure of genetic variation (at both ramet- and genet-level) and clonal diversity within and among populations in the four closely related arctic clonal sedges Carex bigelowii, C. ensifolia, C. lugens and C. starts by use of allozyme markers. Compared to other sedges and arctic plants, the studied taxa all had high levels of genetic variation, both within populations and taxa. These taxa contained most of the total gene diversity (H-T) within populations and a small part of the diversity among populations (G(ST) ranged 0.05-0.43). Carex bigelowii had genetic variation (H-S = 0.173, mean for populations) at a comparable level to other outbreeding arctic plants and to other widespread, rhizomatous and mainly outbreeding Carex species. In contrast, C. ensifolia (H-S = 0.335), C. lugens (H-S = 0.339) and C. stans (H-S = 0.294) had within-population variations that were higher than in most other studied Carex species and for arctic plants in general. Genetic variation was not related to any tested environmental variable, but it was lower in areas deglaciated only 10 000 years BP compared to areas deglaciated 60 000 years BP or not glaciated at all during the Weichselian. All the populations were multiclonal, except for two populations of C. starts that were monoclonal. In contrast to genetic variation, clonal diversity decreased with latitude and did not differ between areas with different times of deglaciation. In accordance with previous studies, C. bigelowii and C. lugens were found to be outbreeding, while C. ensifolia and C. stans had mixed mating systems.
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| 10. |
- Hoffman, Eric A., et al.
(författare)
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Genetic structure in the coral-reef-associated Banggai cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni
- 2005
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 14:5, s. 1367-1375
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we used 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci to show that oceanic distances as small as 2–5 km are sufficient to produce high levels of population genetic structure (multilocus FST as high as 0.22) in the Banggai cardinalfish(Pterapogon kauderni), a heavily exploited reef fish lacking a pelagic larval dispersal phase. Global FST among all populations, separated by a maximum distance of 203 km, was 0.18 (RST = 0.35). Moreover, two lines of evidence suggest that estimates of FST may actually underestimate the true level of genetic structure. First, within-locus FST values were consistently close to the theoretical maximum set by the average within-population heterozygosity. Second, the allele size permutation test showed that RST values were significantly larger than FST values, indicating that populations have been isolated long enough for mutation to have played a role in generating allelic variation among populations. The high level of microspatial structure observed in this marine fish indicates that life history traits such as lack of pelagic larval phase and a good homing ability do indeed play a role in shaping population genetic structure in the marine realm.
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| 11. |
- Koblmüller, Stephan, et al.
(författare)
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More is Better
- 2009
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 18:24, s. 4994-4996
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 12. |
- Axelsson, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Natural selection in protein-coding genes expressed in avian brain
- 2008
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 17:12, s. 3008-3017
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The evolution of birds from theropod dinosaurs took place approximately 150 million years ago, and was associated with a number of specific adaptations that are still evident among extant birds, including feathers, song and extravagant secondary sexual characteristics. Knowledge about the molecular evolutionary background to such adaptations is lacking. Here, we analyse the evolution of > 5000 protein-coding gene sequences expressed in zebra finch brain by comparison to orthologous sequences in chicken. Mean d(N)/d(S) is 0.085 and genes with their maximal expression in the eye and central nervous system have the lowest mean d(N)/d(S) value, while those expressed in digestive and reproductive tissues exhibit the highest. We find that fast-evolving genes (those which have higher than expected rate of nonsynonymous substitution, indicative of adaptive evolution) are enriched for biological functions such as fertilization, muscle contraction, defence response, response to stress, wounding and endogenous stimulus, and cell death. After alignment to mammalian orthologues, we identify a catalogue of 228 genes that show a significantly higher rate of protein evolution in the two bird lineages than in mammals. These accelerated bird genes, representing candidates for avian-specific adaptations, include genes implicated in vocal learning and other cognitive processes. Moreover, colouration genes evolve faster in birds than in mammals, which may have been driven by sexual selection for extravagant plumage characteristics.
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| 13. |
- Backström, Niclas, et al.
(författare)
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Genomics of natural bird populations : a gene-based set of reference markers evenly spread across the avian genome
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 17:4, s. 964-980
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although there is growing interest to take genomics into the complex realms of natural populations, there is a general shortage of genomic resources and tools available for wild species. This applies not at least to birds, for which genomic approaches should be helpful to questions such as adaptation, speciation and population genetics. In this study, we describe a genome-wide reference set of conserved avian gene markers, broadly applicable across birds. By aligning protein-coding sequences from the recently assembled chicken genome with orthologous sequences in zebra finch, we identified particularly conserved exonic regions flanking introns of suitable size for subsequent amplification and sequencing. Primers were designed for 242 gene markers evenly distributed across the chicken genome, with a mean inter-marker interval of 4.2 Mb. Between 78% and 93% of the markers amplified a specific product in five species tested (chicken, peregrine falcon, collared flycatcher, great reed warbler and blue tit). Two hundred markers were sequenced in collared flycatcher, yielding a total of 122.41 kb of genomic DNA sequence (12096 bp coding sequence and 110 314 bp noncoding). Intron size of collared flycatcher and chicken was highly correlated, as was GC content. A polymorphism screening using these markers in a panel of 10 unrelated collared flycatchers identified 871 single nucleotide polymorphisms (pi = 0.0029) and 33 indels (mainly very short). Avian genome characteristics such as uniform genome size and low rate of syntenic rearrangements suggest that this marker set will find broad utility as a genome-wide reference resource for molecular ecological and population genomic analysis of birds. We envision that it will be particularly useful for obtaining large-scale orthologous targets in different species--important in, for instance, phylogenetics--and for large-scale identification of evenly distributed single nucleotide polymorphisms needed in linkage mapping or in studies of gene flow and hybridization.
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| 14. |
- Backström, Niclas, et al.
(författare)
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No evidence for Z-chromosome rearrangements between the pied flycatcher and the collared flycatcher as judged by gene-based comparative genetic maps
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 19:16, s. 3394-3405
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Revealing the genetic basis of reproductive isolation is fundamental for understanding the speciation process. Chromosome speciation models propose a role for chromosomal rearrangements in promoting the build up of reproductive isolation between diverging populations and empirical data from several animal and plant taxa support these models. The pied flycatcher and the collared flycatcher are two closely related species that probably evolved reproductive isolation during geographical separation in Pleistocene glaciation refugia. Despite the short divergence time and current hybridization, these two species demonstrate a high degree of intrinsic post-zygotic isolation and previous studies have shown that traits involved in mate choice and hybrid viability map to the Z-chromosome. Could rearrangements of the Z-chromosome between the species explain their reproductive isolation? We developed high coverage Z-chromosome linkage maps for both species, using gene-based markers and large-scale SNP genotyping. Best order maps contained 57-62 gene markers with an estimated average density of one every 1-1.5 Mb. We estimated the recombination rates in flycatcher Z-chromosomes to 1.1-1.3 cM/Mb. A comparison of the maps of the two species revealed extensive co-linearity with no strong evidence for chromosomal rearrangements. This study does therefore not provide support the idea that sex chromosome rearrangements have caused the relatively strong post-zygotic reproductive isolation between these two Ficedula species.
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| 15. |
- Beaumont, Mark A, et al.
(författare)
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In defence of model-based inference in phylogeography.
- 2010
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 19:3, s. 436-446
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent papers have promoted the view that model-based methods in general, and those based on Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) in particular, are flawed in a number of ways, and are therefore inappropriate for the analysis of phylogeographic data. These papers further argue that Nested Clade Phylogeographic Analysis (NCPA) offers the best approach in statistical phylogeography. In order to remove the confusion and misconceptions introduced by these papers, we justify and explain the reasoning behind model-based inference. We argue that ABC is a statistically valid approach, alongside other computational statistical techniques that have been successfully used to infer parameters and compare models in population genetics. We also examine the NCPA method and highlight numerous deficiencies, either when used with single or multiple loci. We further show that the ages of clades are carelessly used to infer ages of demographic events, that these ages are estimated under a simple model of panmixia and population stationarity but are then used under different and unspecified models to test hypotheses, a usage the invalidates these testing procedures. We conclude by encouraging researchers to study and use model-based inference in population genetics.
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| 16. |
- Berglund, Eva C., et al.
(författare)
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Rapid diversification by recombination in Bartonella grahamii from wild rodents in Asia contrasts with low levels of genomic divergence in Northern Europe and America
- 2010
-
Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 19:11, s. 2241-2255
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bartonella is a genus of vector-borne bacteria that infect the red blood cells of mammals, and includes several human-specific and zoonotic pathogens. Bartonella grahamii has a wide host range and is one of the most prevalent Bartonella species in wild rodents. We studied the population structure, genome content and genome plasticity of a collection of 26 B. grahamii isolates from 11 species of wild rodents in seven countries. We found strong geographic patterns, high recombination frequencies and large variations in genome size in B. grahamii compared with previously analysed cat- and human-associated Bartonella species. The extent of sequence divergence in B. grahamii populations was markedly lower in Europe and North America than in Asia, and several recombination events were predicted between the Asian strains. We discuss environmental and demographic factors that may underlie the observed differences.
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| 17. |
- Bernhardsson, Carolina, et al.
(författare)
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Geographic structure and adaptive population differentiation in herbivore defence genes in European aspen (Populus tremula L., Salicaceae)
- 2012
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 21:9, s. 2197-2207
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- When a phenotypic trait is subjected to spatially variable selection and local adaptation, the underlying genes controlling the trait are also expected to show strong patterns of genetic differentiation since alternative alleles are favored in different geographical locations. Here we study 71 SNPs from seven genes associated with inducible defense responses in a sample of P. tremula collected from across Sweden. Four of these genes (PPO2, TI2, TI4 and TI5) show substantial population differentiation and a PCA conducted on the defense SNPs divides the Swedish population into three distinct clusters. Several defense SNPs show latitudinal clines, although these were not robust to multiple testing. However, five SNPs (located within TI4 and TI5) show strong longitudinal clines that remain significant after multiple test correction. Genetic geographical variation, supporting local adaptation, has earlier been confirmed in genes involved in the photoperiod pathway in P. tremula, but this is, to our knowledge, one of the first times that geographic variation has been found in genes involved in plant defense against antagonists.
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| 18. |
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| 19. |
- Brace, Selina, et al.
(författare)
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Population history of the Hispaniolan hutia Plagiodontia aedium (Rodentia Capromyidae) : testing the model of ancient differentiation on a geotectonically complex Caribbean island
- 2012
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 21:9, s. 2239-2253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hispaniola is a geotectonically complex island consisting of two palaeo-islands that docked c. 10 Ma, with a further geological boundary subdividing the southern palaeo-island into eastern and western regions. All three regions have been isolated by marine barriers during the late Cenozoic and possess biogeographically distinct terrestrial biotas. However, there is currently little evidence to indicate whether Hispaniolan mammals show distributional patterns reflecting this geotectonic history, as the islands endemic land mammal fauna is now almost entirely extinct. We obtained samples of Hispaniolan hutia (Plagiodontia aedium), one of the two surviving Hispaniolan land mammal species, through fieldwork and historical museum collections from seven localities distributed across all three of the islands biogeographic regions. Phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome b) reveals a pattern of historical allopatric lineage divergence in this species, with the spatial distribution of three distinct hutia lineages biogeographically consistent with the islands geotectonic history. Coalescent modelling, approximate Bayesian computation and approximate Bayes factor analyses support our phylogenetic inferences, indicating near-complete genetic isolation of these biogeographically separate populations and differing estimates of their effective population sizes. Spatial congruence of hutia lineage divergence is not however matched by temporal congruence with divergences in other Hispaniolan taxa or major events in Hispaniolas geotectonic history; divergence between northern and southern hutia lineages dates to c. 0.6 Ma, significantly later than the unification of the palaeo-islands. The three allopatric Plagiodontia populations should all be treated as distinct management units for conservation, with particular attention required for the northern population (low haplotype diversity) and the south-western population (high haplotype diversity but highly threatened).
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| 20. |
- Campos, Paula F., et al.
(författare)
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Ancient DNA sequences point to a large loss of mitochondrial genetic diversity in the saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) since the Pleistocene
- 2010
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 19:22, s. 4863-4875
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prior to the Holocene, the range of the saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) spanned from France to the Northwest Territories of Canada. Although its distribution subsequently contracted to the steppes of Central Asia, historical records indicate that it remained extremely abundant until the end of the Soviet Union, after which its populations were reduced by over 95%. We have analysed the mitochondrial control region sequence variation of 27 ancient and 38 modern specimens, to assay how the species' genetic diversity has changed since the Pleistocene. Phylogenetic analyses reveal the existence of two well-supported, and clearly distinct, clades of saiga. The first, spanning a time range from >49 500 C-14 ybp to the present, comprises all the modern specimens and ancient samples from the Northern Urals, Middle Urals and Northeast Yakutia. The second clade is exclusive to the Northern Urals and includes samples dating from between 40 400 to 10 250 C-14 ybp. Current genetic diversity is much lower than that present during the Pleistocene, an observation that data modelling using serial coalescent indicates cannot be explained by genetic drift in a population of constant size. Approximate Bayesian Computation analyses show the observed data is more compatible with a drastic population size reduction (c. 66-77%) following either a demographic bottleneck in the course of the Holocene or late Pleistocene, or a geographic fragmentation (followed by local extinction of one subpopulation) at the Holocene/Pleistocene transition.
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| 21. |
- Chauvet, S, et al.
(författare)
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Past and current gene flow in the selfing wind-dispersed species Mycelis muralis in western Europe
- 2004
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 13:6, s. 1391-1407
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The distribution of genetic diversity in Mycelis muralis, or wall lettuce, was investigated at a European scale using 12 microsatellite markers to infer historical and contemporary forces from genetic patterns. Mycelis muralis has the potential for long-distance seed dispersal by wind, is mainly self-pollinated, and has patchily distributed populations, some of which may show metapopulation dynamics. A total of 359 individuals were sampled from 17 populations located in three regions, designated southern Europe (Spain and France), the Netherlands, and Sweden. At this within-region scale, contemporary evolutionary forces (selfing and metapopulation dynamics) are responsible for high differentiation between populations (0.34 < FST < 0.60) but, contrary to expectation, levels of within-population diversity, estimated by Nei's unbiased expected heterozygosity (HE) (0.24 < HE < 0.68) or analyses of molecular variance (50% of the variation found within-populations), were not low. We suggest that the latter results, which are unusual in selfing species, arise from efficient seed dispersal that counteracts population turnover and thus maintains genetic diversity within populations. At the European scale, northern regions showed lower allelic richness (A = 2.38) than populations from southern Europe (A = 3.34). In light of postglacial colonization hypotheses, these results suggest that rare alleles may have been lost during recolonization northwards. Our results further suggest that mutation has contributed to genetic differentiation between southern and northern Europe, and that Sweden may have been colonized by dispersers originating from at least two different refugia.
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| 22. |
- Cubillos, Francisco A, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the complex architecture of polygenic traits in diverged yeast populations.
- 2011
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Ingår i: Molecular ecology. - 1365-294X. ; 20:7, s. 1401-13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phenotypic variation arising from populations adapting to different niches has a complex underlying genetic architecture. A major challenge in modern biology is to identify the causative variants driving phenotypic variation. Recently, the baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has emerged as a powerful model for dissecting complex traits. However, past studies using a laboratory strain were unable to reveal the complete architecture of polygenic traits. Here, we present a linkage study using 576 recombinant strains obtained from crosses of isolates representative of the major lineages. The meiotic recombinational landscape appears largely conserved between populations; however, strain-specific hotspots were also detected. Quantitative measurements of growth in 23 distinct ecologically relevant environments show that our recombinant population recapitulates most of the standing phenotypic variation described in the species. Linkage analysis detected an average of 6.3 distinct QTLs for each condition tested in all crosses, explaining on average 39% of the phenotypic variation. The QTLs detected are not constrained to a small number of loci, and the majority are specific to a single cross-combination and to a specific environment. Moreover, crosses between strains of similar phenotypes generate greater variation in the offspring, suggesting the presence of many antagonistic alleles and epistatic interactions. We found that subtelomeric regions play a key role in defining individual quantitative variation, emphasizing the importance of the adaptive nature of these regions in natural populations. This set of recombinant strains is a powerful tool for investigating the complex architecture of polygenic traits.
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| 23. |
- Dalén, Love, et al.
(författare)
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DNA analysis on fox faeces and competition induced niche shifts
- 2004
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 13:8, s. 2389-2392
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Interference competition can force inferior competitors to change their distribution patterns. It is, however, possible that the dominant competitor poses a higher threat during certain times of the year, for example during reproduction. In such cases, the inferior competitor is expected to change its distribution accordingly. We used a molecular species identification method on faeces to investigate how the spatial overlap between arctic and red foxes changes between seasons. The results show that arctic and red foxes are sympatric during winter, but allopatric in summer as arctic foxes retreat to higher altitudes further from the tree-line during the breeding season
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| 24. |
- Dalén, Love, et al.
(författare)
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Population structure in a critically endangered arctic fox population : does genetics matter?
- 2006
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 15:10, s. 2809-2819
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The arctic fox (Alopex lagopus) in Scandinavia is classified as critically endangered after having gone through a severe decline in population size in the beginning of the 20th century, from which it has failed to recover despite more than 65 years of protection. Arctic foxes have a high dispersal rate and often disperse over long distances, suggesting that there was probably little population differentiation within Scandinavia prior to the bottleneck. It is, however, possible that the recent decline in population size has led to a decrease in dispersal and an increase in population fragmentation. To examine this, we used 10 microsatellite loci to analyse genetic variation in 150 arctic foxes from Scandinavia and Russia. The results showed that the arctic fox in Scandinavia presently is subdivided into four populations, and that the Kola Peninsula and northwest Russia together form a large fifth population. Current dispersal between the populations seemed to be very low, but genetic variation within them was relatively high. This and the relative F-ST values among the populations are consistent with a model of recent fragmentation within Scandinavia. Since the amount of genetic variation is high within the populations, but the populations are small and isolated, demographic stochasticity seems to pose a higher threat to the populations' persistence than inbreeding depression and low genetic variation.
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| 25. |
- Dalman, Kerstin, et al.
(författare)
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Evolutionary history of the conifer root rot fungus Heterobasidion annosum sensu lato
- 2010
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 19, s. 4979-4993
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigated two hypotheses for the origin of the root rot fungus Heterobasidion annosum species complex: (i) that geology has been an important factor for the speciation (ii) that co-evolutionary processes with the hosts drove the divergence of the pathogen species. The H. annosum species complex consists of five species: three occur in Europe, H. annosum s.s., Heterobasidion parviporum and Heterobasidion abietinum, and two in North America, Heterobasidion irregulare and Heterobasidion occidentale; all with different but partially overlapping host preferences. The evolution of the H. annosum species complex was studied using six partially sequenced genes, between 10 and 30 individuals of each species were analysed. Neighbour-joining trees were constructed for each gene, and a Bayesian tree was built for the combined data set. In addition, haplotype networks were constructed to illustrate the species relationships. For three of the genes, H. parviporum and H. abietinum share haplotypes supporting recent divergence and/or possible gene flow. We propose that the H. annosum species complex originated in Laurasia and that the H. annosum s.s./H. irregulare and H. parviporum/H. abietinum/H. occidentale ancestral species emerged between 45 and 60 Ma in the Palaearctic, well after the radiation of the host genera. Our data imply that H. irregulare and H. occidentale were colonizing North America via different routes. In conclusion, plate tectonics are likely to have been the main factor influencing Heterobasidion speciation and biogeography.
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