Genetic Dissection of a Supergene Implicates Tfap2a in Craniofacial Evolution of Threespine Sticklebacks.

ABSTRACT: In nature, multiple adaptive phenotypes often coevolve and can be controlled by tightly linked genetic loci known as supergenes. Dissecting the genetic basis of these linked phenotypes is a major challenge in evolutionary genetics. Multiple freshwater populations of threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) have convergently evolved two constructive craniofacial traits, longer branchial bones and increased pharyngeal tooth number, likely as adaptations to dietary differences between marine and freshwater environments. Prior QTL mapping showed that both traits are partially controlled by overlapping genomic regions on chromosome 21 and that a regulatory change in Bmp6 likely underlies the tooth number QTL. Here, we mapped the branchial bone length QTL to a 155 kb, e

SUBMITTER: Erickson PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5972429 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature