Adaptive radiation along a deeply conserved genetic line of least resistance in Anolis lizards.

ABSTRACT: On microevolutionary timescales, adaptive evolution depends upon both natural selection and the underlying genetic architecture of traits under selection, which may constrain evolutionary outcomes. Whether such genetic constraints shape phenotypic diversity over macroevolutionary timescales is more controversial, however. One key prediction is that genetic constraints should bias the early stages of species divergence along "genetic lines of least resistance" defined by the genetic (co)variance matrix, G. This bias is expected to erode over time as species means and G matrices diverge, allowing phenotypes to evolve away from the major axis of variation. We tested for evidence of this signal in West Indian Anolis lizards, an iconic example of adaptive radiation. We found that the maj

SUBMITTER: McGlothlin JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6121822 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature