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Accelerated Evolution of Tissue-Specific Genes Mediates Divergence Amidst Gene Flow in European Green Lizards.

ABSTRACT: The European green lizards of the Lacerta viridis complex consist of two closely related species, L. viridis and Lacerta bilineata that split less than 7 million years ago in the presence of gene flow. Recently, a third lineage, referred to as the "Adriatic" was described within the L. viridis complex distributed from Slovenia to Greece. However, whether gene flow between the Adriatic lineage and L. viridis or L. bilineata has occurred and the evolutionary processes involved in their diversification are currently unknown. We hypothesized that divergence occurred in the presence of gene flow between multiple lineages and involved tissue-specific gene evolution. In this study, we sequenced the whole genome of an individual of the Adriatic lineage and tested for the presence of gene flow amongst L. viridis, L. bilineata, and Adriatic. Additionally, we sequenced transcriptomes from multiple tissues to understand tissue-specific effects. The species tree supports that the Adriatic lineage is a sister taxon to L. bilineata. We detected gene flow between the Adriatic lineage and L. viridis suggesting that the evolutionary history of the L. viridis complex is likely shaped by gene flow. Interestingly, we observed topological differences between the autosomal and Z-chromosome phylogenies with a few fast evolving genes on the Z-chromosome. Genes highly expressed in the ovaries and strongly co-expressed in the brain experienced accelerated evolution presumably contributing to establishing reproductive isolation in the L. viridis complex.

SUBMITTER: Kolora SRR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8382678 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Understanding the background mechanisms affecting the emergence and maintenance of consistent between-individual variation within population in single (animal personality) or across multiple (behavioural syndrome) behaviours has key importance. State-dependence theory suggests that behaviour is 'anchored' to individual state (e.g. body condition, gender, age) and behavioural consistency emerges through behavioural-state feedbacks. A number of relevant state variables are labile (e.g. body condition, physiological performance) and expected to be affected by short-term environmental change. Yet, whether short-term environmental shifts affect behavioural consistency during adulthood remains questionable. Here, by employing a full-factorial laboratory experiment, we explored if quantity of food (low vs. high) and time available for thermoregulation (3h vs. 10h per day) had an effect on activity and risk-taking of reproductive adult male European green lizards (Lacerta viridis). We focussed on different components of behavioural variation: (i) strength of behavioural consistency (repeatability for animal personality; between-individual correlation for behavioural syndrome), (ii) behavioural type (individual mean behaviour) and (iii) behavioural predictability (within-individual behavioural variation). Activity was repeatable in all treatments. Risk-taking was repeatable only in the low basking treatments. We found significant between-individual correlation only in the low food × long basking time group. The treatments did not affect behavioural type, but affected behavioural predictability. Activity predictability was higher in the short basking treatment, where it also decreased with size (? age). Risk-taking predictability in the short basking treatment increased with size under food limitation, but decreased when food supply was high. We conclude that short-term environmental change can alter various components of behavioural consistency. The effect could be detected in the presence/absence patterns of animal personality and behavioural syndrome and the level of individual behavioural predictability, but not in behavioural type.

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Accelerated Evolution of Tissue-Specific Genes Mediates Divergence Amidst Gene Flow in European Green Lizards.

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