Biology subjects

Blankers, T.

Publications and source records attributed to Blankers, T..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

The genetic basis of inter-island mating behavior divergence

Mating behavior divergence can make significant contributions to reproductive isolation and speciation in various biogeographic contexts. However, whether the genetic architecture underlying mating behavior divergence is related to the biogeographic history and the tempo and mode of speciation remains poorly understood. Here, we use quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping to infer the number, distribution, and effect size of mating song rhythm variation in the crickets Laupala eukolea and L. cerasina, which occur on different islands (Maui and Hawaii). We then compare these results with a similar study of an independently evolving species pair that diverged within the same island. Finally, we annotate the L. cerasina transcriptome and test whether QTL fall in functionally enriched genomic regions. We document a polygenic architecture behind song rhythm divergence in the inter-island species pair that is remarkably similar to that previously found for an intra-island species pair in the same genus. Importantly, QTL regions were significantly enriched for potential homologs of genes involved in pathways that may be modulating cricket song rhythm. These clusters of loci could constrain the spatial genomic distribution of genetic variation underlying cricket song variation and harbor several candidate genes that merit further study.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Demography and selection shape transcriptomic divergence in field crickets

Gene flow, demography, and selection can result in similar patterns of genomic variation and disentangling their effects is key to understanding speciation. Here, we assess transcriptomic variation to unravel the evolutionary history of Gryllus rubens and Gryllus texensis, cryptic field cricket species with highly divergent mating behavior. We infer their demographic history and screen their transcriptomes for footprints of selection in the context of the inferred demography. We find strong support for a long history of bidirectional gene flow, which ceased during the late Pleistocene, and a bottleneck in G. rubens consistent with a peripatric origin of this species. Importantly, the demographic history has likely strongly shaped patterns of neutral genetic differentiation (empirical FST distribution). Concordantly, FST based selection detection uncovers a large number of outliers, likely comprising many false positives, echoing recent theoretical insights. Alternative genetic signatures of positive selection, informed by the demographic history of the sibling species, highlighted a smaller set of loci; many of these are candidates for controlling variation in mating behavior. Our results underscore the importance of demography in shaping overall patterns of genetic divergence and highlight that examining both demography and selection facilitates a more complete understanding of genetic divergence during speciation.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2017

The genomic architecture of a rapid island radiation: mapping chromosomal rearrangements and recombination rate variation in Laupala

Phenotypic evolution and speciation depend on recombination in many ways. Within populations, recombination can promote adaptation by bringing together favorable mutations and decoupling beneficial and deleterious alleles. As populations diverge, cross-over can give rise to maladapted recombinants and impede or reverse diversification. Suppressed recombination due to genomic rearrangements, modifier alleles, and intrinsic chromosomal properties may offer a shield against maladaptive gene flow eroding co-adapted gene complexes. Both theoretical and empirical results support this relationship. However, little is known about this relationship in the context of behavioral isolation, where co-evolving signals and preferences are the major hybridization barrier. Here we examine the genomic architecture of recently diverged, sexually isolated Hawaiian swordtail crickets (Laupala). We assemble a de novo genome and generate three dense linkage maps from interspecies crosses. In line with expectations based on the species recent divergence and successful interbreeding in the lab, the linkage maps are highly collinear and show no evidence for large-scale chromosomal rearrangements. The maps were then used to anchor the assembly to pseudomolecules and estimate recombination rates across the genome. We tested the hypothesis that loci involved in behavioral isolation (song and preference divergence) are in regions of low interspecific recombination. Contrary to our expectations, a genomic region where a male song QTL co-localizes with a female preference QTL was not associated with particularly low recombination rates. This study provides important novel genomic resources for an emerging evolutionary genetics model system and suggests that trait-preference co-evolution is not necessarily facilitated by locally suppressed recombination.

evolutionary biology↗