Genomic islands of differentiation in a rapid avian radiation have been driven by recent selective sweeps.

ABSTRACT: Numerous studies of emerging species have identified genomic "islands" of elevated differentiation against a background of relative homogeneity. The causes of these islands remain unclear, however, with some signs pointing toward "speciation genes" that locally restrict gene flow and others suggesting selective sweeps that have occurred within nascent species after speciation. Here, we examine this question through the lens of genome sequence data for five species of southern capuchino seedeaters, finch-like birds from South America that have undergone a species radiation during the last ∼50,000 generations. By applying newly developed statistical methods for ancestral recombination graph inference and machine-learning methods for the prediction of selective sweeps, we show that previously

SUBMITTER: Hejase HA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7720181 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature