Post-Pleistocene radiation of the pea aphid complex revealed by rapidly evolving endosymbionts.

ABSTRACT: Adaptation to different resources has the potential to cause rapid species diversification, but few studies have been able to quantify the time scale of recent adaptive radiations. The pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, a model of speciation for host-specialized parasites, consists of several biotypes (races or species) living on distinct legume hosts. To document this radiation, we used rapidly evolving sequences from Buchnera, the maternally transmitted bacterial endosymbiont of aphids. Analyses of Buchnera pseudogene sequences revealed that 11 host-associated biotypes sort mostly into distinct matrilines despite low sequence divergence. A calibration based on divergence times of 7 sequenced genomes of Buchnera allowed us to date the last maternal ancestor of these biotypes between 8,000 an

SUBMITTER: Peccoud J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2752580 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature