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The role of selection in driving landscape genomic structure of the waterflea Daphnia magna
Author(s) -
Orsini Luisa,
Mergeay Joachim,
Vanoverbeke Joost,
Meester Luc
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.12117
Subject(s) - biology , daphnia magna , local adaptation , evolutionary biology , population genomics , genetic variation , natural selection , genetic diversity , genetic structure , population , neutral theory of molecular evolution , selection (genetic algorithm) , adaptation (eye) , genetic drift , ecology , genomics , genetics , genome , gene , chemistry , demography , organic chemistry , toxicity , artificial intelligence , sociology , neuroscience , computer science
The combined analysis of neutral and adaptive genetic variation is crucial to reconstruct the processes driving population genetic structure in the wild. However, such combined analysis is challenging because of the complex interaction among neutral and selective processes in the landscape. Overcoming this level of complexity requires an unbiased search for the evidence of selection in the genomes of populations sampled from their natural habitats and the identification of demographic processes that lead to present‐day populations' genetic structure. Ecological model species with a suite of genomic tools and well‐understood ecologies are best suited to resolve this complexity and elucidate the role of selective and demographic processes in the landscape genomic structure of natural populations. Here we investigate the water flea D aphnia magna , an emerging model system in genomics and a renowned ecological model system. We infer past and recent demographic processes by contrasting patterns of local and regional neutral genetic diversity at markers with different mutation rates. We assess the role of the environment in driving genetic variation in our study system by identifying correlates between biotic and abiotic variables naturally occurring in the landscape and patterns of neutral and adaptive genetic variation. Our results indicate that selection plays a major role in determining the population genomic structure of D . magna . First, environmental selection directly impacts genetic variation at loci hitchhiking with genes under selection. Second, priority effects enhanced by local genetic adaptation (cf. monopolization) affect neutral genetic variation by reducing gene flow among populations and genetic diversity within populations.