The evolution of ancestral and species-specific adaptations in snowfinches at the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

ABSTRACT: Species in a shared environment tend to evolve similar adaptations under the influence of their phylogenetic context. Using snowfinches, a monophyletic group of passerine birds (Passeridae), we study the relative roles of ancestral and species-specific adaptations to an extreme high-elevation environment, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Our ancestral trait reconstruction shows that the ancestral snowfinch occupied high elevations and had a larger body mass than most nonsnowfinches in Passeridae. Subsequently, this phenotypic adaptation diversified in the descendant species. By comparing high-quality genomes from representatives of the three phylogenetic lineages, we find that about 95% of genes under positive selection in the descendant species are different from those in the ancestor. Consiste

SUBMITTER: Qu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8020664 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature