Dataset Information

RAD-Seq derived markers flank the shell colour and banding loci of the Cepaea nemoralis supergene.

ABSTRACT: Studies on the classic shell colour and banding polymorphism of the land snail Cepaea played a crucial role in establishing the importance of natural selection in maintaining morphological variation. Cepaea is also a pre-eminent model for ecological genetics because the outward colour and banding phenotype is entirely genetically determined, primarily by a 'supergene' of at least five loci. Unfortunately, progress in understanding the evolution and maintenance of the Cepaea polymorphism stalled, partly because of a lack of genetic markers. With a view to re-establish Cepaea as a prominent model of molecular ecology, we made six laboratory crosses of Cepaea nemoralis, five of which segregated for shell ground colour (C) and the presence or absence of bands (B). First, scoring of colour and banding in 323 individuals found no recombination between the C and B loci of the supergene. Second, using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) of two parents and 22 offspring, we identified 44 anonymous markers putatively linked to the colour (C) and banding (B) loci. The genotype of eleven of the most promising RAD-Seq markers was independently validated in the same 22 offspring, then up to a further 146 offspring were genotyped. The closest RAD-Seq markers scored are within ~0.6 centimorgan (cM) of the C-B supergene linkage group, with the combined loci together forming a 35.8 cM linkage map of markers that flank both sides of the Cepaea C-B supergene.

SUBMITTER: Richards PM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3712483 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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RAD-Seq derived markers flank the shell colour and banding loci of the Cepaea nemoralis supergene.

Richards Paul M PM Liu M Maureen MM Lowe Natalie N Davey John W JW Blaxter Mark L ML Davison Angus A

Molecular ecology 20130315 11

Studies on the classic shell colour and banding polymorphism of the land snail Cepaea played a crucial role in establishing the importance of natural selection in maintaining morphological variation. Cepaea is also a pre-eminent model for ecological genetics because the outward colour and banding phenotype is entirely genetically determined, primarily by a 'supergene' of at least five loci. Unfortunately, progress in understanding the evolution and maintenance of the Cepaea polymorphism stalled, ...[more]

PMID: 23496771

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Project description:BACKGROUND: With a diversity of pigmented shell morphotypes governed by Mendelian patterns of inheritance, the common grove snail, Cepaea nemoralis, has served as a model for evolutionary biologists and population geneticists for decades. Surprisingly, the molecular mechanisms by which C. nemoralis generates this pigmented shelled diversity, and the degree of evolutionary conservation present between molluscan shell-forming proteomes, remain unknown. RESULTS: Here, using next generation sequencing and high throughput proteomics, we identify and characterize the major proteinaceous components of the C. nemoralis shell, the first shell-proteome for a pulmonate mollusc. The recent availability of several marine molluscan shell-proteomes, and the dataset we report here, allow us to identify 59 evolutionarily conserved and novel shell-forming proteins. While the C. nemoralis dataset is dominated by proteins that share little to no similarity with proteins in public databases, almost half of it shares similarity with proteins present in other molluscan shells. In addition, we could not find any indication that a protein (or class of proteins) is directly associated with shell pigmentation in C. nemoralis. This is in contrast to the only other partially characterized molluscan-shell pigmentation mechanism employed by the tropical abalone Haliotis asinina. CONCLUSIONS: The unique pulmonate shell-forming proteome that we report here reveals an abundance of both mollusc-specific and pulmonate-specific proteins, suggesting that novel coding sequences, and/or the extensive divergence of these sequences from ancestral sequences, supported the innovation of new shell types within the Conchifera. In addition, we report here the first evidence that molluscs use independently evolved mechanisms to pigment their shells. This proteome provides a solid foundation from which further studies aimed at the functional characterization of these shell-forming proteins can be conducted.

Dataset Information

RAD-Seq derived markers flank the shell colour and banding loci of the Cepaea nemoralis supergene.

Publications

RAD-Seq derived markers flank the shell colour and banding loci of the Cepaea nemoralis supergene.

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