The role of demographic history and selection in shaping genetic diversity of the Galapagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus).

ABSTRACT: Although many studies have documented the effects of demographic bottlenecks on the genetic diversity of natural populations, there is conflicting evidence of the roles that genetic drift and selection may play in driving changes in genetic variation at adaptive loci. We analyzed genetic variation at microsatellite and mitochondrial loci in conjunction with an adaptive MHC class II locus in the Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus), a species that has undergone serial demographic bottlenecks associated with El Niño events through its evolutionary history. We compared levels of variation in the Galápagos penguin to those of its congener, the Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus), which has consistently maintained a large population size and thus was used as a non-bottlenecked con

SUBMITTER: Arauco-Shapiro G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6946592 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature