High gene flow between alternative morphs and the evolutionary persistence of facultative paedomorphosis.

ABSTRACT: Paedomorphosis and metamorphosis are two major developmental processes that characterize the evolution of complex life cycles in many lineages. Whereas these processes were fixed in some taxa, they remained facultative in others, with alternative phenotypes expressed in the same populations. From a genetic perspective, it is still unknown whether such phenotypes form a single population or whether they show some patterns of isolation in syntopy. This has deep implications for understanding the evolution of the phenotypes, i.e. towards their persistence or their fixation and speciation. Newts and salamanders are excellent models to test this hypothesis because they exhibit both developmental processes in their populations: the aquatic paedomorphs retain gills, whereas the metamorphs are abl

SUBMITTER: Oromi N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4989185 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature