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Wong DCJ, Wang Z, Perkins J, Jin X, Marsh GE, John EG, Peakall R. The road less taken: Dihydroflavonol 4-reductase inactivation and delphinidin anthocyanin loss underpins a natural intraspecific flower colour variation. Mol Ecol 2024:e17334. [PMID: 38651763 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2023] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
Visual cues are of critical importance for the attraction of animal pollinators, however, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underpinning intraspecific floral colour variation. Here, we combined comparative spectral analysis, targeted metabolite profiling, multi-tissue transcriptomics, differential gene expression, sequence analysis and functional analysis to investigate a bee-pollinated orchid species, Glossodia major with common purple- and infrequent white-flowered morphs. We found uncommon and previously unreported delphinidin-based anthocyanins responsible for the conspicuous and pollinator-perceivable colour of the purple morph and three genetic changes underpinning the loss of colour in the white morph - (1) a loss-of-function (LOF; frameshift) mutation affecting dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR1) coding sequence due to a unique 4-bp insertion, (2) specific downregulation of functional DFR1 expression and (3) the unexpected discovery of chimeric Gypsy transposable element (TE)-gene (DFR) transcripts with potential consequences to the genomic stability and post-transcriptional or epigenetic regulation of DFR. This is one of few known cases where regulatory changes and LOF mutation in an anthocyanin structural gene, rather than transcription factors, are important. Furthermore, if TEs prove to be a frequent source of mutation, the interplay between environmental stress-induced TE evolution and pollinator-mediated selection for adaptive colour variation may be an overlooked mechanism maintaining floral colour polymorphism in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darren C J Wong
- Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Zemin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
- College of Life Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
| | - James Perkins
- Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Xin Jin
- State Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
- College of Life Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Grace Emma Marsh
- Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Emma Grace John
- Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Rod Peakall
- Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
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Delmore K, Justen H, Kay KM, Kitano J, Moyle LC, Stelkens R, Streisfeld MA, Yamasaki YY, Ross J. Genomic Approaches Are Improving Taxonomic Representation in Genetic Studies of Speciation. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2024; 16:a041438. [PMID: 37848243 PMCID: PMC10835617 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a041438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
Until recently, our understanding of the genetics of speciation was limited to a narrow group of model species with a specific set of characteristics that made genetic analysis feasible. Rapidly advancing genomic technologies are eliminating many of the distinctions between laboratory and natural systems. In light of these genomic developments, we review the history of speciation genetics, advances that have been gleaned from model and non-model organisms, the current state of the field, and prospects for broadening the diversity of taxa included in future studies. Responses to a survey of speciation scientists across the world reveal the ongoing division between the types of questions that are addressed in model and non-model organisms. To bridge this gap, we suggest integrating genetic studies from model systems that can be reared in the laboratory or greenhouse with genomic studies in related non-models where extensive ecological knowledge exists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kira Delmore
- Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
| | - Hannah Justen
- Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
| | - Kathleen M Kay
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
| | - Jun Kitano
- Ecological Genetics Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
| | - Leonie C Moyle
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA
| | - Rike Stelkens
- Division of Population Genetics, Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Matthew A Streisfeld
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA
| | - Yo Y Yamasaki
- Ecological Genetics Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
| | - Joseph Ross
- Department of Biology, California State University, Fresno, California 93740, USA
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Merrill RM, Arenas-Castro H, Feller AF, Harenčár J, Rossi M, Streisfeld MA, Kay KM. Genetics and the Evolution of Prezygotic Isolation. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2024; 16:a041439. [PMID: 37848246 PMCID: PMC10835618 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a041439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
The significance of prezygotic isolation for speciation has been recognized at least since the Modern Synthesis. However, fundamental questions remain. For example, how are genetic associations between traits that contribute to prezygotic isolation maintained? What is the source of genetic variation underlying the evolution of these traits? And how do prezygotic barriers affect patterns of gene flow? We address these questions by reviewing genetic features shared across plants and animals that influence prezygotic isolation. Emerging technologies increasingly enable the identification and functional characterization of the genes involved, allowing us to test established theoretical expectations. Embedding these genes in their developmental context will allow further predictions about what constrains the evolution of prezygotic isolation. Ongoing improvements in statistical and computational tools will reveal how pre- and postzygotic isolation may differ in how they influence gene flow across the genome. Finally, we highlight opportunities for progress by combining theory with appropriate data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard M Merrill
- Faculty of Biology, Division of Evolutionary Biology, LMU Munich, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Henry Arenas-Castro
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Anna F Feller
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02131, USA
| | - Julia Harenčár
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
| | - Matteo Rossi
- Faculty of Biology, Division of Evolutionary Biology, LMU Munich, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Matthew A Streisfeld
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-5289, USA
| | - Kathleen M Kay
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
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Wessinger CA. How the switch to hummingbird pollination has greatly contributed to our understanding of evolutionary processes. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024; 241:59-64. [PMID: 37853523 PMCID: PMC10843001 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/30/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
The evolutionary switch to hummingbird pollination exemplifies complex adaptation, requiring evolutionary change in multiple component traits. Despite this complexity, diverse lineages have converged on hummingbird-adapted flowers on a relatively short evolutionary timescale. Here, I review how features of the genetic basis of adaptation contribute to this remarkable evolutionary lability. Large-effect substitutions, large mutational targets for adaptation, adaptive introgression, and concentrated architecture all contribute to the origin and maintenance of hummingbird-adapted flowers. The genetic features of adaptation are likely shaped by the ecological and geographic context of the switch to hummingbird pollination, with implications for future evolutionary trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolyn A Wessinger
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
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Short AW, Streisfeld MA. Ancient hybridization leads to the repeated evolution of red flowers across a monkeyflower radiation. Evol Lett 2023; 7:293-304. [PMID: 37829500 PMCID: PMC10565894 DOI: 10.1093/evlett/qrad024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023] Open
Abstract
The reuse of old genetic variation can promote rapid diversification in evolutionary radiations, but in most cases, the historical events underlying this divergence are not known. For example, ancient hybridization can generate new combinations of alleles that sort into descendant lineages, potentially providing the raw material to initiate divergence. In the Mimulus aurantiacus species complex, there is evidence for widespread gene flow among members of this radiation. In addition, allelic variation in the MaMyb2 gene is responsible for differences in flower color between the closely related ecotypes of subspecies puniceus, contributing to reproductive isolation by pollinators. Previous work suggested that MaMyb2 was introgressed into the red-flowered ecotype of puniceus. However, additional taxa within the radiation have independently evolved red flowers from their yellow-flowered ancestors, raising the possibility that this introgression had a more ancient origin. In this study, we used repeated tests of admixture from whole-genome sequence data across this diverse radiation to demonstrate that there has been both ancient and recurrent hybridization in this group. However, most of the signal of this ancient introgression has been removed due to selection, suggesting that widespread barriers to gene flow are in place between taxa. Yet, a roughly 30 kb region that contains the MaMyb2 gene is currently shared only among the red-flowered taxa. Patterns of admixture, sequence divergence, and extended haplotype homozygosity across this region confirm a history of ancient hybridization, where functional variants have been preserved due to positive selection in red-flowered taxa but lost in their yellow-flowered counterparts. The results of this study reveal that selection against gene flow can reduce genomic signatures of ancient hybridization, but that historical introgression can provide essential genetic variation that facilitates the repeated evolution of phenotypic traits between lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aidan W Short
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, 5289 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-5289, United States
| | - Matthew A Streisfeld
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, 5289 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-5289, United States
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Wessinger CA, Katzer AM, Hime PM, Rausher MD, Kelly JK, Hileman LC. A few essential genetic loci distinguish Penstemon species with flowers adapted to pollination by bees or hummingbirds. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002294. [PMID: 37769035 PMCID: PMC10538765 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023] Open
Abstract
In the formation of species, adaptation by natural selection generates distinct combinations of traits that function well together. The maintenance of adaptive trait combinations in the face of gene flow depends on the strength and nature of selection acting on the underlying genetic loci. Floral pollination syndromes exemplify the evolution of trait combinations adaptive for particular pollinators. The North American wildflower genus Penstemon displays remarkable floral syndrome convergence, with at least 20 separate lineages that have evolved from ancestral bee pollination syndrome (wide blue-purple flowers that present a landing platform for bees and small amounts of nectar) to hummingbird pollination syndrome (bright red narrowly tubular flowers offering copious nectar). Related taxa that differ in floral syndrome offer an attractive opportunity to examine the genomic basis of complex trait divergence. In this study, we characterized genomic divergence among 229 individuals from a Penstemon species complex that includes both bee and hummingbird floral syndromes. Field plants are easily classified into species based on phenotypic differences and hybrids displaying intermediate floral syndromes are rare. Despite unambiguous phenotypic differences, genome-wide differentiation between species is minimal. Hummingbird-adapted populations are more genetically similar to nearby bee-adapted populations than to geographically distant hummingbird-adapted populations, in terms of genome-wide dXY. However, a small number of genetic loci are strongly differentiated between species. These approximately 20 "species-diagnostic loci," which appear to have nearly fixed differences between pollination syndromes, are sprinkled throughout the genome in high recombination regions. Several map closely to previously established floral trait quantitative trait loci (QTLs). The striking difference between the diagnostic loci and the genome as whole suggests strong selection to maintain distinct combinations of traits, but with sufficient gene flow to homogenize the genomic background. A surprisingly small number of alleles confer phenotypic differences that form the basis of species identity in this species complex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolyn A. Wessinger
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America
| | - Amanda M. Katzer
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| | - Paul M. Hime
- Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| | - Mark D. Rausher
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - John K. Kelly
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| | - Lena C. Hileman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
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