Journal
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 39, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msac064
Keywords
species persistence; divergent selection; recombination; gene flow; Phrynocephalus
Funding
- Strategic Priority Research Program, CAS [XDB31000000, XDPB17]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [32100341]
- Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) [2019QZKK0501]
- Animal Branch of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, Chinese Academy of Sciences (the Large Research Infrastructure Funding)
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Speciation plays a crucial role in evolution, and understanding the origins and persistence of reproductive isolation (RI) is important. This study examined two closely related toad-headed lizards using genomic data and found that divergent selection and low genetic recombination help maintain RI between the two species.
Speciation plays a central role in evolutionary studies, and particularly how reproductive isolation (RI) evolves. The origins and persistence of RI are distinct processes that require separate evaluations. Treating them separately clarifies the drivers of speciation and then it is possible to link the processes to understand large-scale patterns of diversity. Recent genomic studies have focused predominantly on how species or RI originate. However, we know little about how species persist in face of gene flow. Here, we evaluate a contact zone of two closely related toad-headed lizards (Phrynocephalus) using a chromosome-level genome assembly and population genomics. To some extent, recent asymmetric introgression from Phrynocephalus putjatai to P. vlangalii reduces their genomic differences. However, their highly divergent regions (HDRs) have heterogeneous distributions across the genomes. Functional gene annotation indicates that many genes within HDRs are involved in reproduction and RI. Compared with allopatric populations, contact areas exhibit recent divergent selection on the HDRs and a lower population recombination rate. Taken together, this implies that divergent selection and low genetic recombination help maintain RI. This study provides insights into the genomic mechanisms that drive RI and two species persistence in the face of gene flow during the late stage of speciation.
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