Genomics of rapid ecological divergence and parallel adaptation in four tidal marsh sparrows.

ABSTRACT: Theory suggests that different taxa having colonized a similar, challenging environment will show parallel or lineage-specific adaptations to shared selection pressures, but empirical examples of parallel evolution in independent taxa are exceedingly rare. We employed comparative genomics to identify parallel and lineage-specific responses to selection within and among four species of North American sparrows that represent four independent, post-Pleistocene colonization events by an ancestral, upland subspecies and a derived salt marsh specialist. We identified multiple cases of parallel adaptation in these independent comparisons following salt marsh colonization, including selection of 12 candidate genes linked to osmoregulation. In addition to detecting shared genetic targets of selecti

SUBMITTER: Walsh J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6675146 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature