TY - JOUR

T1 - Multiple types of genomic variation contribute to adaptive traits in the mustelid subfamily Guloninae

AU - Derežanin, Lorena

AU - Blažytė, Asta

AU - Dobrynin, Pavel

AU - Duchêne, David A.

AU - Grau, José Horacio

AU - Jeon, Sungwon

AU - Kliver, Sergei

AU - Koepfli, Klaus-Peter

AU - Meneghini, Dorina

AU - Preick, Michaela

AU - Tomarovsky, Andrey

AU - Totikov, Azamat

AU - Fickel, Jörns

AU - Förster, Daniel W.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Species of the mustelid subfamily Guloninae inhabit diverse habitats on multiple continents, and occupy a variety of ecological niches. They differ in feeding ecologies, reproductive strategies and morphological adaptations. To identify candidate loci associated with adaptations to their respective environments, we generated a de novo assembly of the tayra (Eira barbara), the earliest diverging species in the subfamily, and compared this with the genomes available for the wolverine (Gulo gulo) and the sable (Martes zibellina). Our comparative genomic analyses included searching for signs of positive selection, examining changes in gene family sizes and searching for species-specific structural variants. Among candidate loci associated with phenotypic traits, we observed many related to diet, body condition and reproduction. For example, for the tayra, which has an atypical gulonine reproductive strategy of aseasonal breeding, we observed species-specific changes in many pregnancy-related genes. For the wolverine, a circumpolar hypercarnivore that must cope with seasonal food scarcity, we observed many changes in genes associated with diet and body condition. All types of genomic variation examined (single nucleotide polymorphisms, gene family expansions, structural variants) contributed substantially to the identification of candidate loci. This argues strongly for consideration of variation other than single nucleotide polymorphisms in comparative genomics studies aiming to identify loci of adaptive significance.

AB - Species of the mustelid subfamily Guloninae inhabit diverse habitats on multiple continents, and occupy a variety of ecological niches. They differ in feeding ecologies, reproductive strategies and morphological adaptations. To identify candidate loci associated with adaptations to their respective environments, we generated a de novo assembly of the tayra (Eira barbara), the earliest diverging species in the subfamily, and compared this with the genomes available for the wolverine (Gulo gulo) and the sable (Martes zibellina). Our comparative genomic analyses included searching for signs of positive selection, examining changes in gene family sizes and searching for species-specific structural variants. Among candidate loci associated with phenotypic traits, we observed many related to diet, body condition and reproduction. For example, for the tayra, which has an atypical gulonine reproductive strategy of aseasonal breeding, we observed species-specific changes in many pregnancy-related genes. For the wolverine, a circumpolar hypercarnivore that must cope with seasonal food scarcity, we observed many changes in genes associated with diet and body condition. All types of genomic variation examined (single nucleotide polymorphisms, gene family expansions, structural variants) contributed substantially to the identification of candidate loci. This argues strongly for consideration of variation other than single nucleotide polymorphisms in comparative genomics studies aiming to identify loci of adaptive significance.

KW - adaptation

KW - gene family evolution

KW - genomics

KW - mustelids

KW - positive selection

KW - structural variation

U2 - 10.1111/mec.16443

DO - 10.1111/mec.16443

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35334142

AN - SCOPUS:85127462359

VL - 31

SP - 2898

EP - 2919

JO - Molecular Ecology

JF - Molecular Ecology

SN - 0962-1083

IS - 10

ER -