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Environment‐dependent costs and benefits of recombination in independently evolved populations of Escherichia coli *
Author(s) -
Wang Yinhua,
Cooper Tim F.
Publication year - 2020
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.13974
Subject(s) - biology , adaptation (eye) , reproductive isolation , escherichia coli , genetics , evolutionary biology , recombination , experimental evolution , genetic fitness , genetic algorithm , isolation (microbiology) , offspring , reproductive success , biological evolution , gene , population , bioinformatics , demography , pregnancy , neuroscience , sociology
Abstract Understanding of the causes by which reproductive isolation arises remains limited. We examine the role of adaptation in driving reproductive isolation among 12 Escherichia coli populations evolved in two different environments. We found that, regardless of whether parents were selected in the same or different environments, the average fitness of recombinants was lower than the expected, consistent with a prevailing influence of incompatibility between independently accumulated mutations. Exceptions to this pattern occurred among recombinants of some parents evolved in different environments. These recombinants were less fit than expected in the selective environment of one parent, but more fit than expected in the selective environment of the other parent. Our results indicate that both parallel and divergent adaptation can quickly lead to intrinsic genetic barriers contributing to the initial stages of speciation and show that these barriers can be complex, for example, depending on the environment in which recombinant offspring are tested.