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The genomic basis of adaptive evolution in threespine sticklebacks.

TitleThe genomic basis of adaptive evolution in threespine sticklebacks.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsJones FC, Grabherr MG, Chan Y F, Russell P, Mauceli E, Johnson J, Swofford R, Pirun M, Zody MC, White S, Birney E
JournalNature
Volume484
Issue7392
Pagination55-61
Date Published2012 Apr 5
ISSN1476-4687
KeywordsAdaptation, Physiological, Alaska, Animals, Chromosomes, Aquatic Organisms, Biological Evolution, Chromosome Inversion, Conserved Sequence, Ecotype, Female, Fresh Water, Genetic Variation, Time Factors, predation, Molecular Sequence Data, Seawater, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Smegmamorpha
Abstract

<p>
Marine stickleback fish have colonized and adapted to thousands of streams and lakes formed since the last ice age, providing an exceptional opportunity to characterize genomic mechanisms underlying repeated ecological adaptation in nature. Here we develop a high-quality reference genome assembly for threespine sticklebacks. By sequencing the genomes of twenty additional individuals from a global set of marine and freshwater populations, we identify a genome-wide set of loci that are consistently associated with marine-freshwater divergence. Our results indicate that reuse of globally shared standing genetic variation, including chromosomal inversions, has an important role in repeated evolution of distinct marine and freshwater sticklebacks, and in the maintenance of divergent ecotypes during early stages of reproductive isolation. Both coding and regulatory changes occur in the set of loci underlying marine-freshwater evolution, but regulatory changes appear to predominate in this well known example of repeated adaptive evolution in nature.</p>

DOI10.1038/nature10944
Alternate JournalNature