Positive selection over the mitochondrial genome and its role in the diversification of gentoo penguins in response to adaptation in isolation.

ABSTRACT: Although mitochondrial DNA has been widely used in phylogeography, evidence has emerged that factors such as climate, food availability, and environmental pressures that produce high levels of stress can exert a strong influence on mitochondrial genomes, to the point of promoting the persistence of certain genotypes in order to compensate for the metabolic requirements of the local environment. As recently discovered, the gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) comprise four highly divergent lineages across their distribution spanning the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions. Gentoo penguins therefore represent a suitable animal model to study adaptive processes across divergent environments. Based on 62 mitogenomes that we obtained from nine locations spanning all four gentoo penguin lineages,

SUBMITTER: Noll D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8904570 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature