Comparative analysis of swallowtail transcriptomes suggests molecular determinants for speciation and adaptation.

ABSTRACT: Genetic determinants of speciation in closely related species are poorly understood. We sequenced and analyzed transcriptomes of swallowtail butterflies Heraclides cresphontes (northeastern species) and Heraclides rumiko (southwestern species), a pair of mostly allopatric sister species whose distribution ranges overlap narrowly in central Texas. We found that the two swallowtails confidently differ (F_ST > 0.5 for both species) in about 5% of genes, similarly to the divergence in another pair of swallowtail species Pterourus glaucus (southern species) and Pterourus canadensis (northern species). The same genes tend to diverge in both species pairs, suggesting similar speciation paths in Heraclides and Pterourus. The most significant differences for both species pairs were found

SUBMITTER: Cong Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8934176 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature