Genomik der Hybridisierung, Artbildung und phänotypischen Evolution von Mittelmeer- und Nonnenschmätzern
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
With the aim to obtain insights into the genomics of hybridization, speciation, and phenotypic evolution, in this project we investigated genomic variation from the Oenanthe hispanica complex from throughout the complex’s distribution. We successfully established cutting-edge genomic resources, including a well annotated, chromosome-scale reference genome of O. melanoleuca and genomic data for several hundred wheatears from within the complex and across the genus. Based on these resources, we carried out a phylogenomic study to establish the species relationships of species within the genus Oenanthe and related species and understand which processes have the potential to explain convergent evolution at the genus level. This work confirmed the high incidence of convergent evolution in wheatears and provides evidence for high rates of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and introgression during wheatears’ evolution. It suggests that likely all three possible processes – ILS, introgression, and novel mutations – contributed to convergent evolution at the genus level. The genetic mapping of colour variation in the hispanica complex corroborates the conclusion that convergent evolution took all possible roots in wheatears. Using genome-wide association studies, we identified the genomic variation underpinning the throat colour polymorphism and the back colour divergence in the complex. Based on population genomic and phylogenomic analyses we reconstructed the colorations’ evolutionary history, demonstrating that depending on the phenotype and evolutionary scale considered (within the complex versus across the genus), phenotypes evolved from ancestral variation, introgression, and/or novel mutations. Finally, population genetic analyses provided us with insights into the diversification history within the hispanica complex. To our surprise, they uncovered a deep split within Oenanthe pleschanka that was neither known nor expected from a phenotypic perspective. Populations found from northeastern Bulgaria and Romania eastward along the northern shores of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea to western Kazakhstan appear to be genetically distinct from ones in the eastern distribution of pleschanka. Meanwhile, no phenotypic differences between these populations are known to science. Already interesting per se, this discovery opens intriguing opportunities to study hybridization, as it implies unique ancestry compositions of each of the four hybrid zones in the study system. To take advantage of this unique setting, the project required more sampling effort than anticipated. The work leveraging these opportunities is still underway due in large part to delays linked to the pandemic that dominated most of the project’s duration.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
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Linked‐read sequencing enables haplotype‐resolved resequencing at population scale. Molecular Ecology Resources, 20(5), 1311-1322.
Lutgen, Dave; Ritter, Raphael; Olsen, Remi‐André; Schielzeth, Holger; Gruselius, Joel; Ewels, Philip; García, Jesús T.; Shirihai, Hadoram; Schweizer, Manuel; Suh, Alexander & Burri, Reto
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A Phylogenomic Assessment of Processes Underpinning Convergent Evolution in Open-Habitat Chats. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Kakhki, Niloofar Alaei; Schweizer, Manuel; Lutgen, Dave; Bowie, Rauri C. K.; Shirihai, Hadoram; Suh, Alexander; Schielzeth, Holger & Burri, Reto
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An annotated chromosome-scale reference genome for Eastern black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe melanoleuca). G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 13(6).
Peona, Valentina; Palacios-Gimenez, Octavio Manuel; Lutgen, Dave; Olsen, Remi André; Alaei, Kakhki Niloofar; Andriopoulos, Pavlos; Bontzorlos, Vasileios; Schweizer, Manuel; Suh, Alexander & Burri, Reto
