| 1. |
- Backström, Niclas, et al.
(författare)
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A high-density scan of the Z chromosome in ficedula flycatchers reveals candidate loci for diversifying selection
- 2010
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Ingår i: Evolution. - : Wiley. - 0014-3820 .- 1558-5646. ; 64:12, s. 3461-3475
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Theoretical and empirical data suggest that genes located on sex chromosomes may play an important role both for sexually selected traits and for traits involved in the build-up of hybrid incompatibilities. We investigated patterns of genetic variation in 73 genes located on the Z chromosomes of two species of the flycatcher genus Ficedula, the pied flycatcher and the collared flycatcher. Sequence data were evaluated for signs of selection potentially related to genomic differentiation in these young sister species, which hybridize despite reduced fitness of hybrids. Seven loci were significantly more divergent between the two species than expected under neutrality and they also displayed reduced nucleotide diversity, consistent with having been influenced by directional selection. Two of the detected candidate regions contain genes that are associated with plumage coloration in birds. Plumage characteristics play an important role in species recognition in these flycatchers suggesting that the detected genes may have been involved in the evolution of sexual isolation between the species.
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| 2. |
- Backström, Niclas, et al.
(författare)
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Inferring the demographic history of European Ficedula flycatcher populations
- 2013
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Ingår i: BMC Evolutionary Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2148. ; 13, s. 2-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Inference of population and species histories and population stratification using genetic data is important for discriminating between different speciation scenarios and for correct interpretation of genome scans for signs of adaptive evolution and trait association. Here we use data from 24 intronic loci re-sequenced in population samples of two closely related species, the pied flycatcher and the collared flycatcher. Results: We applied Isolation-Migration models, assignment analyses and estimated the genetic differentiation and diversity between species and between populations within species. The data indicate a divergence time between the species of <1 million years, significantly shorter than previous estimates using mtDNA, point to a scenario with unidirectional gene-flow from the pied flycatcher into the collared flycatcher and imply that barriers to hybridisation are still permeable in a recently established hybrid zone. Furthermore, we detect significant population stratification, predominantly between the Spanish population and other pied flycatcher populations. Conclusions: Our results provide further evidence for a divergence process where different genomic regions may be at different stages of speciation. We also conclude that forthcoming analyses of genotype-phenotype relations in these ecological model species should be designed to take population stratification into account.
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| 3. |
- Burri, Reto, et al.
(författare)
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Linked selection and recombination rate variation drive the evolution of the genomic landscape of differentiation across the speciation continuum of Ficedula flycatchers
- 2015
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Ingår i: Genome Research. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. - 1088-9051 .- 1549-5469. ; 25:11, s. 1656-1665
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Speciation is a continuous process during which genetic changes gradually accumulate in the genomes of diverging species. Recent studies have documented highly heterogeneous differentiation landscapes, with distinct regions of elevated differentiation ("differentiation islands") widespread across genomes. However, it remains unclear which processes drive the evolution of differentiation islands; how the differentiation landscape evolves as speciation advances; and ultimately, how differentiation islands are related to speciation. Here, we addressed these questions based on population genetic analyses of 200 resequenced genomes from 10 populations of four Ficedula flycatcher sister species. We show that a heterogeneous differentiation landscape starts emerging among populations within species, and differentiation islands evolve recurrently in the very same genomic regions among independent lineages. Contrary to expectations from models that interpret differentiation islands as genomic regions involved in reproductive isolation that are shielded from gene flow, patterns of sequence divergence (d(XY) relative node depth) do not support a major role of gene flow in the evolution of the differentiation landscape in these species. Instead, as predicted by models of linked selection, genome-wide variation in diversity and differentiation can be explained by variation in recombination rate and the density of targets for selection. We thus conclude that the heterogeneous landscape of differentiation in Ficedula flycatchers evolves mainly as the result of background selection and selective sweeps in genomic regions of low recombination. Our results emphasize the necessity of incorporating linked selection as a null model to identify genome regions involved in adaptation and speciation.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Smeds, Linnea, et al.
(författare)
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Evolutionary analysis of the female-specific avian W chromosome
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The typically repetitive nature of the sex-limited chromosome means that it is often excluded from or poorly covered in genome assemblies, hindering studies of evolutionary and population genomic processes in non-recombining chromosomes. Here, we present a draft assembly of the non-recombining region of the collared flycatcher W chromosome, containing 46 genes without evidence of female-specific functional differentiation. Survival of genes during W chromosome degeneration has been highly non-random and expression data suggest that this can be attributed to selection for maintaining gene dose and ancestral expression levels of essential genes. Re-sequencing of large population samples revealed dramatically reduced levels of within-species diversity and elevated rates of between-species differentiation (lineage sorting), consistent with low effective population size. Concordance between W chromosome and mitochondrial DNA phylogenetic trees demonstrates evolutionary stable matrilineal inheritance of this nuclear-cytonuclear pair of chromosomes. Our results show both commonalities and differences between W chromosome and Y chromosome evolution.
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| 6. |
- Warmuth, Vera, et al.
(författare)
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Major population splits coincide with episodes of rapid climate change in a forest-dependent bird
- 2021
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 288:1962
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate change influences population demography by altering patterns of gene flow and reproductive isolation. Direct mutation rates offer the possibility for accurate dating on the within-species level but are currently only available for a handful of vertebrate species. Here, we use the first directly estimated mutation rate in birds to study the evolutionary history of pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca). Using a combination of demographic inference and species distribution modelling, we show that all major population splits in this forest-dependent system occurred during periods of increased climate instability and rapid global temperature change. We show that the divergent Spanish subspecies originated during the Eemian-Weichselian transition 115-104 thousand years ago (kya), and not during the last glacial maximum (26.5-19 kya), as previously suggested. The magnitude and rates of climate change during the glacial-interglacial transitions that preceded population splits in pied flycatchers were similar to, or exceeded, those predicted to occur in the course of the current, human-induced climate crisis. As such, our results provide a timely reminder of the strong impact that episodes of climate instability and rapid temperature changes can have on species' evolutionary trajectories, with important implications for the natural world in the Anthropocene.
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