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Genetic variation for adaptive traits is associated with polymorphic inversions in Littorina saxatilis
Author(s) -
Koch Eva L.,
Morales Hernán E.,
Larsson Jenny,
Westram Anja M.,
Faria Rui,
Lemmon Alan R.,
Lemmon E. Moriarty,
Johannesson Kerstin,
Butlin Roger K.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
evolution letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2056-3744
DOI - 10.1002/evl3.227
Subject(s) - ecotype , biology , gene flow , evolutionary biology , local adaptation , adaptation (eye) , gastropoda , trait , gene , genetic variation , intertidal zone , ecology , genetics , population , demography , neuroscience , sociology , computer science , programming language
Chromosomal inversions have long been recognized for their role in local adaptation. By suppressing recombination in heterozygous individuals, they can maintain coadapted gene complexes and protect them from homogenizing effects of gene flow. However, to fully understand their importance for local adaptation we need to know their influence on phenotypes under divergent selection. For this, the marine snail Littorina saxatilis provides an ideal study system. Divergent ecotypes adapted to wave action and crab predation occur in close proximity on intertidal shores with gene flow between them. Here, we used F2 individuals obtained from crosses between the ecotypes to test for associations between genomic regions and traits distinguishing the Crab‐/Wave‐adapted ecotypes including size, shape, shell thickness, and behavior. We show that most of these traits are influenced by two previously detected inversion regions that are divergent between ecotypes. We thus gain a better understanding of one important underlying mechanism responsible for the rapid and repeated formation of ecotypes: divergent selection acting on inversions. We also found that some inversions contributed to more than one trait suggesting that they may contain several loci involved in adaptation, consistent with the hypothesis that suppression of recombination within inversions facilitates differentiation in the presence of gene flow.

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