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Three cross-incompatibility loci each control a distinct reproductive barrier in both domesticated maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) and its wild teosinte relatives. These three loci, Teosinte crossing barrier1 (Tcb1), Gametophytic factor1 (Ga1), and Ga2, each play a key role in preventing hybridization between incompatible populations and are proposed to maintain the barrier between domesticated and wild subspecies. Each locus encodes both a silk-active and a matching pollen-active pectin methylesterase (PMEs). To investigate the diversity and molecular evolution of these gametophytic factor loci, we identified existing and improved models of the responsible genes in a new genome assembly of maize line P8860 that contains active versions of all three loci. We then examined fifty-two assembled genomes from seventeen species to classify haplotype diversity and identify sites under diversifying selection during the evolution of these genes. We show that Ga2, the oldest of these three loci, was duplicated to form Ga1 at least 12 million years ago. Tcb1, the youngest locus, arose as a duplicate of Ga1 before or around the time of diversification of the Zea genus. We find evidence of positive selection during evolution of the functional genes at an active site in the pollen-expressed PME and predicted surface sites in both the silk- and pollen-expressed PMEs. The most common allele at the Ga1 locus is a conserved ga1 allele (ga1-Off), which is a specific haplotype containing three full-length PME gene copies, all of which are non-coding due to conserved stop codons and are between 610 thousand and 1.5 million years old. We show that the ga1-Off allele is associated with and likely generates 24-nt siRNAs in developing pollen-producing tissue, and these siRNAs map to functional Ga1 alleles. In previously-published crosses, the ga1-Off allele was associated with reduced function of the typically dominant functional alleles for the Ga1 and Tcb1 barriers. Taken together, this seems to be an example of a type of epigenetic trans-homolog silencing known as paramutation, functioning at a locus controlling a reproductive barrier.
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Linked selection and the evolution of altruism in family‐structured populations
Abstract Much research on the evolution of altruism via kin selection, group selection, and reciprocity focuses on the role of a single locus or quantitative trait. Very few studies have explored how linked selection, or selection at loci neighboring an altruism locus, impacts the evolution of altruism. While linked selection can decrease the efficacy of selection at neighboring loci, it might have other effects including promoting selection for altruism by increasing relatedness in regions of low recombination. Here, we used population genetic simulations to study how negative selection at linked loci, or background selection, affects the evolution of altruism. When altruism occurs between full siblings, we found that background selection interfered with selection on the altruistic allele, increasing its fixation probability when the altruistic allele was disfavored and reducing its fixation when the allele was favored. In other words, background selection has the same effect on altruistic genes in family‐structured populations as it does on other, nonsocial, genes. This contrasts with prior research showing that linked selective sweeps can favor the evolution of cooperation, and we discuss possibilities for resolving these contrasting results.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1846260
- PAR ID:
- 10491142
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Ecology and Evolution
- Volume:
- 14
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2045-7758
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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