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Range expansion underlies historical introgressive hybridization in the Iberian hare.

ABSTRACT: Introgressive hybridization is an important and widespread evolutionary process, but the relative roles of neutral demography and natural selection in promoting massive introgression are difficult to assess and an important matter of debate. Hares from the Iberian Peninsula provide an appropriate system to study this question. In its northern range, the Iberian hare, Lepus granatensis, shows a northwards gradient of increasing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) introgression from the arctic/boreal L. timidus, which it presumably replaced after the last glacial maximum. Here, we asked whether a south-north expansion wave of L. granatensis into L. timidus territory could underlie mtDNA introgression, and whether nuclear genes interacting with mitochondria ("mitonuc" genes) were affected. We extended previous RNA-sequencing and produced a comprehensive annotated transcriptome assembly for L. granatensis. We then genotyped 100 discovered nuclear SNPs in 317 specimens spanning the species range. The distribution of allele frequencies across populations suggests a northwards range expansion, particularly in the region of mtDNA introgression. We found no correlation between variants at 39 mitonuc genes and mtDNA introgression frequency. Whether the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes coevolved will need a thorough investigation of the hundreds of mitonuc genes, but range expansion and species replacement likely promoted massive mtDNA introgression.

SUBMITTER: Marques JP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5264399 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Range expansion underlies historical introgressive hybridization in the Iberian hare.

Marques João P JP Farelo Liliana L Vilela Joana J Vanderpool Dan D Alves Paulo C PC Good Jeffrey M JM Boursot Pierre P Melo-Ferreira José J

Scientific reports 20170125

Introgressive hybridization is an important and widespread evolutionary process, but the relative roles of neutral demography and natural selection in promoting massive introgression are difficult to assess and an important matter of debate. Hares from the Iberian Peninsula provide an appropriate system to study this question. In its northern range, the Iberian hare, Lepus granatensis, shows a northwards gradient of increasing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) introgression from the arctic/boreal L. tim ...[more]

PMID: 28120863

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Project description:BackgroundBaboons of the genus Papio are distributed over wide ranges of Africa and even colonized parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Traditionally, five phenotypically distinct species are recognized, but recent molecular studies were not able to resolve their phylogenetic relationships. Moreover, these studies revealed para- and polyphyletic (hereafter paraphyletic) mitochondrial clades for baboons from eastern Africa, and it was hypothesized that introgressive hybridization might have contributed substantially to their evolutionary history. To further elucidate the phylogenetic relationships among baboons, we extended earlier studies by analysing the complete mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and the 'Brown region' from 67 specimens collected at 53 sites, which represent all species and which cover most of the baboons' range.ResultsBased on phylogenetic tree reconstructions seven well supported major haplogroups were detected, which reflect geographic populations and discordance between mitochondrial phylogeny and baboon morphology. Our divergence age estimates indicate an initial separation into southern and northern baboon clades 2.09 (1.54-2.71) million years ago (mya). We found deep divergences between haplogroups within several species (~2 mya, northern and southern yellow baboons, western and eastern olive baboons and northern and southern chacma baboons), but also recent divergence ages among species (< 0.7 mya, yellow, olive and hamadryas baboons in eastern Africa).ConclusionOur study confirms earlier findings for eastern Africa, but shows that baboon species from other parts of the continent are also mitochondrially paraphyletic. The phylogenetic patterns suggest a complex evolutionary history with multiple phases of isolation and reconnection of populations. Most likely all these biogeographic events were triggered by multiple cycles of expansion and retreat of savannah biomes during Pleistocene glacial and inter-glacial periods. During contact phases of populations reticulate events (i.e. introgressive hybridization) were highly likely, similar to ongoing hybridization, which is observed between East African baboon populations. Defining the extent of the introgressive hybridization will require further molecular studies that incorporate additional sampling sites and nuclear loci.

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Range expansion underlies historical introgressive hybridization in the Iberian hare.

Publications

Range expansion underlies historical introgressive hybridization in the Iberian hare.

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