Publication Date:
2015-02-18
Description:
Darwin's finches, inhabiting the Galapagos archipelago and Cocos Island, constitute an iconic model for studies of speciation and adaptive evolution. Here we report the results of whole-genome re-sequencing of 120 individuals representing all of the Darwin's finch species and two close relatives. Phylogenetic analysis reveals important discrepancies with the phenotype-based taxonomy. We find extensive evidence for interspecific gene flow throughout the radiation. Hybridization has given rise to species of mixed ancestry. A 240 kilobase haplotype encompassing the ALX1 gene that encodes a transcription factor affecting craniofacial development is strongly associated with beak shape diversity across Darwin's finch species as well as within the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis), a species that has undergone rapid evolution of beak shape in response to environmental changes. The ALX1 haplotype has contributed to diversification of beak shapes among the Darwin's finches and, thereby, to an expanded utilization of food resources.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lamichhaney, Sangeet -- Berglund, Jonas -- Almen, Markus Sallman -- Maqbool, Khurram -- Grabherr, Manfred -- Martinez-Barrio, Alvaro -- Promerova, Marta -- Rubin, Carl-Johan -- Wang, Chao -- Zamani, Neda -- Grant, B Rosemary -- Grant, Peter R -- Webster, Matthew T -- Andersson, Leif -- England -- Nature. 2015 Feb 19;518(7539):371-5. doi: 10.1038/nature14181. Epub 2015 Feb 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden. ; Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden. ; 1] Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden [2] Department of Plant Physiology, Umea University, SE-901 87 Umea, Sweden. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA. ; 1] Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, SE-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden [2] Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden [3] Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-4458, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25686609" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Avian Proteins/genetics/metabolism
;
Beak/*anatomy & histology
;
Ecuador
;
*Evolution, Molecular
;
Female
;
Finches/*anatomy & histology/classification/embryology/*genetics
;
Gene Flow
;
Genome/genetics
;
Haplotypes/genetics
;
Hybridization, Genetic
;
Indian Ocean Islands
;
Male
;
Molecular Sequence Data
;
Phylogeny
;
Transcription Factors/genetics/metabolism
Print ISSN:
0028-0836
Electronic ISSN:
1476-4687
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
