Among the three main divergent lineages of gray wolf (Canis lupus), the Holarctic lineage is the most widespread and best studied, particularly in North America and Europe. Less is known about Tibetan (also called Himalayan) and Indian wolf lineages in southern Asia, especially in areas surrounding Pakistan where all three lineages are thought to meet. Given the endangered status of the Indian wolf in neighboring India and unclear southwestern boundary of the Tibetan wolf range, we conducted mitochondrial and genome-wide sequencing of wolves from Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan. Sequences of the mitochondrial D-loop region of 81 wolves from Pakistan indicated contact zones between Holarctic and Indian lineages across the northern and western mountains of Pakistan. Reduced-representation genome sequencing of eight wolves indicated an east-to-west cline of Indian to Holarctic ancestry, consistent with a contact zone between these two lineages in Pakistan. The western boundary of the Tibetan lineage corresponded to the Ladakh region of India’s Himalayas with a narrow zone of admixture spanning this boundary from the Karakoram Mountains of northern Pakistan into Ladakh, India. Our results highlight the conservation significance of Pakistan’s wolf populations, especially the remaining populations in Sindh and Southern Punjab that represent the highly endangered Indian lineage.
The grey wolf (
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10377308
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Molecular Ecology
- Volume:
- 30
- Issue:
- 24
- ISSN:
- 0962-1083
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 6687-6700
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract The phylogeny of
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Abstract Hybrid zones typically contain novel gene combinations that can be tested by natural selection in a unique genetic context. Parental haplotypes that increase fitness can introgress beyond the hybrid zone, into the range of parental species. We used the Affymetrix canine
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Abstract Context Processes that shape genomic and ecological divergence can reveal important evolutionary dynamics to inform the conservation of threatened species.
Fontainea is a genus of rainforest shrubs and small trees including critically endangered and threatened species restricted to narrow, but complex geographic and ecological regions. Several species ofFontainea are subject to spatially explicit conditions and experience limited intra-specific gene flow, likely generating genetic differentiation and local adaptation.Objectives Here, we explored the genetic and ecological mechanisms underlying patterns of diversification in two, closely related threatened
Fontainea species. Our aim was to compare spatial patterns of genetic variation between the vulnerableFontainea australis (Southern Fontainea) and critically endangeredF. oraria (Coastal Fontainea), endemic to the heterogeneous subtropical region of central, eastern Australia, where large-scale clearing has severely reduced rainforest habitat to a fraction (< 1%) of its pre-European settlement extent.Methods We used a set of 10,000 reduced-representation markers to infer genetic relationships and the drivers of spatial genetic variation across the two species. In addition, we employed a combination of univariate and multivariate genome-environment association analysis using a set of topo-climatic variables to explore potential patterns of local adaptation as a factor impacting genomic divergence.
Results Our study revealed that Coastal Fontainea have a close genetic relationship with Southern Fontainea. We showed that isolation by distance has played a key role in their genetic variation, indicating that vicariance can explain the spatial genetic distribution of the two species. Genotype-environment analyses showed a strong association with temperature and topographic features, suggesting adaptation to localised thermal environments. We used a multivariate redundancy analysis to identify a range of putatively adapted loci associated with local environmental conditions.
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Brachypodius atriceps ) is a polymorphic species with two distinct morphs, yellow and grey. This species inhabits the mainland and virtually all continental islands of Southeast Asia where yellow morphs predominate, but on two islands in the Sunda region, Bawean and Maratua, grey morphs are common or exclusive. Here, we generated a high‐quality reference genome of a yellow individual and resequenced genomes of multiple individuals of both yellow and grey morphs to study the genetic basis of coloration and population history of the species. Using PCA and STRUCTURE analysis, we found the Maratua Island population (which is exclusively grey) to be distinct from all otherB .atriceps populations, having been isolated c. 1.9 million years ago (Ma). In contrast, Bawean grey individuals (a subset of yellow and grey individuals on that island) are embedded within an almost panmictic Sundaic clade of yellow birds. UsingF STandd xyto compare variable genomic segments between Maratua and yellow individuals, we located peaks of divergence and identified candidate loci involved in the colour polymorphism. Tests of selection among coding‐proteins in highF STregions, however, did not indicate selection on the candidate genes. Overall, we report on some loci that are potentially responsible for the grey/yellow polymorphism in a species that otherwise shows little genetic diversification across most of its range.
