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Nielsen, R. L. and Ustunisik, G., “Using Petrography, CO2 Contents of Melt Inclusions, and Phase Equilibria Experiments to Understand the Petrogenesis of Plagioclase Ultraphyric Basalts (PUB) in Mid Ocean Ridges (MOR) ” Presentation at American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, Chicago, IL (December 11-15, 2023). 

Daynes, O.*, Ustunisik, G., Nielsen, R. L., and Betts, M.*, “Correlation of Depth of Differentiation to Tectonic Setting: Evidence from Plagioclase Ultraphyric Basalts” Presentation at American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, Chicago, IL (December 11-15, 2023). 

Betts, M.*, Ustunisik, G., Nielsen, R. L., and Daynes, O.*, “The Early Stages of Petrogenesis of Mid-Ocean Ridge (MOR) Magmas as Evidenced by Plagioclase Megacryts and their Melt Inclusions (MI)” Presentation at American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, Chicago, IL (December 11-15, 2023). 

A common goal in evolutionary biology is to discern the mechanisms that produce the astounding diversity of morphologies seen across the tree of life. Aposematic species, those with a conspicuous phenotype coupled with some form of defence, are excellent models to understand the link between vivid colour pattern variations, the natural selection shaping it, and the underlying genetic mechanisms underpinning this variation. Mimicry systems in which multiple species share the same conspicuous phenotype can provide an even better model for understanding the mechanisms of colour production in aposematic species, especially if comimics have divergent evolutionary histories. Here we investigate the genetic mechanisms by which vivid colour and pattern are produced in a Müllerian mimicry complex of poison frogs. We did this by first assembling a high-quality de novo genome assembly for the mimic poison frog Ranitomeya imitator. This assembled genome is 6.8 Gbp in size, with a contig N50 of 300 Kbp R. imitator and two colour morphs from both Ranitomeya fantastica and R. variabilis which R. imitator mimics. We identified a large number of pigmentation and patterning genes that are differentially expressed throughout development, many of them related to melanocyte development, melanin synthesis, iridophore development and guanine synthesis. Polytypic differences within species may be the result of differences in expression and/or timing of expression, whereas convergence for colour pattern between species does not appear to be due to the same changes in gene expression. In addition, we identify the pteridine synthesis pathway (including genes such as qdpr and xdh) as a key driver of the variation in colour between morphs of these species. Finally, we hypothesize that genes in the keratin family are important for producing different structural colours within these frogs. 

Recent research shows that introgression between closely-related species is an important source of adaptive alleles for a wide range of taxa. Typically, detection of adaptive introgression from genomic data relies on comparative analyses that require sequence data from both the recipient and the donor species. However, in many cases, the donor is unknown or the data is not currently available. Here, we introduce a genome-scan method—VolcanoFinder—to detect recent events of adaptive introgression using polymorphism data from the recipient species only. VolcanoFinder detects adaptive introgression sweeps from the pattern of excess intermediate-frequency polymorphism they produce in the flanking region of the genome, a pattern which appears as a volcano-shape in pairwise genetic diversity. Using coalescent theory, we derive analytical predictions for these patterns. Based on these results, we develop a composite-likelihood test to detect signatures of adaptive introgression relative to the genomic background. Simulation results show that VolcanoFinder has high statistical power to detect these signatures, even for older sweeps and for soft sweeps initiated by multiple migrant haplotypes. Finally, we implement VolcanoFinder to detect archaic introgression in European and sub-Saharan African human populations, and uncovered interesting candidates in both populations, such as TSHR in Europeans and TCHH-RPTN in Africans. We discuss their biological implications and provide guidelines for identifying and circumventing artifactual signals during empirical applications of VolcanoFinder. 

Interpretation of erupted products we observe on the seafloor requires that we understand the petrogenesis of melts in the oceanic crust and where crystallization initially takes place. Our work focuses on estimating depth of crystallization of the plagioclase megacrysts using CO2 and H2O concentrations from plagioclase ultraphyric basalts (PUBs). Samples were analyzed from the Lucky Strike segment on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and from three locations on the Juan de Fuca Ridge (West Valley, Endeavor Segment, and Axial Segment). Melt inclusions were re-homogenized to remove the effects of post-entrapment crystallization. The CO2 in the vapor bubbles present in the melt inclusions were analyzed at Virginia Tech using Raman spectroscopy, and associated glassy melt inclusions were analyzed at WHOI using the ion microprobe for CO2 and H2O. Vapor-saturation pressures calculated from these volatiles stored in melt inclusions and vapor bubbles range from 359-3994 bars, corresponding to depths of 1.0-11.4 km below the sea floor. The proportion of CO2 partitioned in the bubbles range from 11-98%. In summary, about 14% of the melt inclusions from Lucky Strike record crystallization depths of 3-4 km, consistent with the depth of the seismically imaged melt lens, whereas ~55% of melt inclusions crystallized at depths >4 km with a maximum at 9.8 km. These data are similar to depths of formation determined through olivine-hosted melt inclusions from the same segment (Wanless et al., 2015), although a greater portion of plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions record crystallization below the melt lens. At the Juan de Fuca ridge, ~24% of the melt inclusions record crystallization depths of 2-3 km, consistent with a seismically imaged mid-crustal magma chamber at the Endeavor Segment, while an additional ~62% crystallize at depths >3 km with a maximum at 11.4 km. This suggests that while crystallization can be focused within the melt lenses and magma chambers at these ridge localities, a significant and greater proportion of the megacrysts were sampled from the lower crust or upper mantle.