ORCID Profile
0000-0002-1893-8537
Current Organisation
University of Amsterdam
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 09-10-2019
Abstract: When the same phenotype evolves repeatedly, we can explore the predictability of genetic changes underlying phenotypic evolution. Theory suggests that genetic parallelism is less likely when phenotypic changes are governed by many small-effect loci compared to few of major effect, because different combinations of genetic changes can result in the same quantitative outcome. However, some genetic trajectories might be favoured over others, making a shared genetic basis to repeated polygenic evolution more likely. To examine this, we studied the genetics of parallel male mating song evolution in the Hawaiian cricket Laupala . We compared quantitative trait loci (QTL) underlying song ergence in three species pairs varying in phenotypic distance. We tested whether replicated song ergence between species involves the same QTL and whether the likelihood of QTL sharing is related to QTL effect size. Contrary to theoretical predictions, we find substantial parallelism in polygenic genetic architectures underlying repeated song ergence. QTL overlapped more frequently than expected based on simulated QTL analyses. Interestingly, QTL effect size did not predict QTL sharing, but did correlate with magnitude of phenotypic ergence. We highlight potential mechanisms driving these constraints on cricket song evolution and discuss a scenario that consolidates empirical quantitative genetic observations with micro-mutational theory.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 06-06-2018
DOI: 10.1534/GENETICS.118.300894
Abstract: 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 erge, crossing over can give rise to maladapted recombinants and impede or reverse ersification. Suppressed recombination due to genomic rearrangements, modifier alleles, and intrinsic chromosomal properties may offer a shield against maladaptive gene flow eroding coadapted gene complexes. Both theoretical and empirical results support this relationship. However, little is known about this relationship in the context of behavioral isolation, where coevolving signals and preferences are the major hybridization barrier. Here we examine the genomic architecture of recently erged, 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 ergence and successful interbreeding in the laboratory, the linkage maps are highly collinear and show no evidence for large-scale chromosomal rearrangements. Next, the maps were used to anchor the assembly to pseudomolecules and estimate recombination rates across the genome to test the hypothesis that loci involved in behavioral isolation (song and preference ergence) are in regions of low interspecific recombination. Contrary to our expectations, the genomic region where a male song and female preference QTL colocalize is 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 coevolution is not necessarily facilitated by locally suppressed recombination.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 10-07-2018
DOI: 10.3390/GENES9070346
Location: Germany
No related grants have been discovered for Thomas Blankers.