Low genome-wide divergence between two lizard populations with high adaptive phenotypic differentiation.

ABSTRACT: Usually, adaptive phenotypic differentiation is paralleled by genetic divergence between locally adapted populations. However, adaptation can also happen in a scenario of nonsignificant genetic divergence due to intense gene flow and/or recent differentiation. While this phenomenon is rarely published, findings on incipient ecologically driven divergence or isolation by adaptation are relatively common, which could confound our understanding about the frequency at which they actually occur in nature. Here, we explore genome-wide traces of divergence between two populations of the lacertid lizard Psammodromus algirus separated by a 600 m elevational gradient. These populations seem to be differentially adapted to their environments despite showing low levels of genetic differentiatio

SUBMITTER: Llanos-Garrido A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8717303 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature