Electronic versions

  • Anja M Westram
    University of Sheffield
  • J. Galindo
    University of Vigo
  • M. Alm Rosenblad
    University of Gothenburg
  • John W. Grahame
    University of Leeds
  • Marina Panova
    University of Gothenburg
  • R.K. Butlin
    University of Sheffield
Parallel patterns of adaptive divergence and speciation are cited as powerful evidence for the role of selection driving these processes. However, it is often not clear whether parallel phenotypic divergence is underlain by parallel genetic changes. Here, we asked about the genetic basis of parallel divergence in the marine snail Littorina saxatilis, which has repeatedly evolved coexisting ecotypes adapted to either crab predation or wave action. We sequenced the transcriptome of snails of both ecotypes from three distant geographical locations (Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom) and mapped the reads to the L. saxatilis reference genome. We identified genomic regions potentially under divergent selection between ecotypes within each country, using an outlier approach based on FST values calculated per locus. In line with previous studies indicating that gene reuse is generally common, we expected to find extensive sharing of outlier loci due to recent shared ancestry and gene flow between at least two of the locations in our study system. Contrary to our expectations, we found that most outliers were country specific, suggesting that much of the genetic basis of divergence is not shared among locations. However, we did find that more outliers were shared than expected by chance and that differentiation of shared outliers is often generated by the same SNPs. We discuss two mechanisms potentially explaining the limited amount of sharing we observed. First, a polygenic basis of divergent traits might allow for multiple distinct molecular mechanisms generating the same phenotypic patterns. Second, additional, location-specific axes of selection that we did not focus on in this study may produce distinct patterns of genetic divergence within each site.

Keywords

  • adaptive divergence, parallel evolution, speciation, transcriptome, scan
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4603-4616
JournalMolecular Ecology
Volume23
Issue number18
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2014
Externally publishedYes

Total downloads

No data available
View graph of relations