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DIFFERENTIAL INTROGRESSION IN A MOSAIC HYBRID ZONE REVEALS CANDIDATE BARRIER GENES
Author(s) -
Larson Erica L.,
Andrés Jose A.,
Bogdanowicz Steven M.,
Harrison Richard G.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/evo.12205
Subject(s) - introgression , biology , cricket , gene , genetics , candidate gene , gene flow , evolutionary biology , reproductive isolation , allele , genetic variation , ecology , population , demography , sociology
Hybrid zones act as genomic sieves. Although globally advantageous alleles will spread throughout the zone and neutral alleles can be freely exchanged between species, introgression will be restricted for genes that contribute to reproductive barriers or local adaptation. Seminal fluid proteins (SFPs) are known to contribute to reproductive barriers in insects and have been proposed as candidate barrier genes in the hybridizing field crickets Gryllus pennsylvanicus and Gryllus firmus . Here, we have used 125 single nucleotide polymorphisms to characterize patterns of differential introgression and to identify genes that may contribute to prezygotic barriers between these species. Using a transcriptome scan of the male cricket accessory gland (the site of SFP synthesis), we identified genes with major allele frequency differences between the species. We then compared patterns of introgression for genes encoding SFPs with patterns for genes expressed in the same tissue that do not encode SFPs. We find no evidence that SFPs have reduced gene exchange across the cricket hybrid zone. However, a number of genes exhibit dramatically reduced introgression, and many of these genes encode proteins with functional roles consistent with known barriers.