scholarly journals Incomplete reproductive isolation following host shift in brood parasitic indigobirds

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1655) ◽  
pp. 219-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher N Balakrishnan ◽  
Kristina M Sefc ◽  
Michael D Sorenson
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Host Shift ◽  
Plumage Colour ◽  
Common Ancestry ◽  
Host Races ◽  
Host Shifts ◽  
Molecular Studies ◽  
Close Relatives ◽  
Incomplete Reproductive Isolation

Behavioural and molecular studies suggest that brood parasitic indigobirds ( Vidua spp.) rapidly diversified through a process of speciation by host shift. However, behavioural imprinting on host song, the key mechanism promoting speciation in this system, may also lead to hybridization and gene flow among established indigobird species when and if female indigobirds parasitize hosts already associated with other indigobird species. It is therefore not clear to what extent the low level of genetic differentiation among indigobird species is due to recent common ancestry versus ongoing gene flow. We tested for reproductive isolation among three indigobird species in Cameroon, one of which comprises two morphologically indistinguishable host races. Mimicry of host songs corresponded with plumage colour in 184 male indigobirds, suggesting that females rarely parasitize the host of another indigobird species. Paternity analyses, however, suggest that imperfect specificity in host and/or mate choice allows for continuing gene flow between recently formed host races of the Cameroon Indigobird Vidua camerunensis ; while 63 pairs of close relatives were associated with the same host, two strongly supported father–son pairs included males mimicking the songs of the two different hosts of V. camerunensis . Thus, complete reproductive isolation is not necessarily an automatic consequence of host shifts, a result that suggests an important role for natural and/or sexual selection in indigobird speciation.

scholarly journals Host races in plant–feeding insects and their importance in sympatric speciation

2002 ◽  
Vol 357 (1420) ◽  
pp. 471-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Drès ◽  
James Mallet
Keyword(s):  
Linkage Disequilibrium ◽  
Gene Flow ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Sympatric Speciation ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Sympatric Populations ◽  
New Host ◽  
Host Races ◽  
Plant Feeding

The existence of a continuous array of sympatric biotypes—from polymorphisms, through ecological or host races with increasing reproductive isolation, to good species—can provide strong evidence for a continuous route to sympatric speciation via natural selection. Host races in plant–feeding insects, in particular, have often been used as evidence for the probability of sympatric speciation. Here, we provide verifiable criteria to distinguish host races from other biotypes: in brief, host races are genetically differentiated, sympatric populations of parasites that use different hosts and between which there is appreciable gene flow. We recognize host races as kinds of species that regularly exchange genes with other species at a rate of more than ca . 1% per generation, rather than as fundamentally distinct taxa. Host races provide a convenient, although admittedly somewhat arbitrary intermediate stage along the speciation continuum. They are a heuristic device to aid in evaluating the probability of speciation by natural selection, particularly in sympatry. Speciation is thereby envisaged as having two phases: (i) the evolution of host races from within polymorphic, panmictic populations; and (ii) further reduction of gene flow between host races until the diverging populations can become generally accepted as species. We apply this criterion to 21 putative host race systems. Of these, only three are unambiguously classified as host races, but a further eight are strong candidates that merely lack accurate information on rates of hybridization or gene flow. Thus, over one–half of the cases that we review are probably or certainly host races, under our definition. Our review of the data favours the idea of sympatric speciation via host shift for three major reasons: (i) the evolution of assortative mating as a pleiotropic by–product of adaptation to a new host seems likely, even in cases where mating occurs away from the host; (ii) stable genetic differences in half of the cases attest to the power of natural selection to maintain multilocus polymorphisms with substantial linkage disequilibrium, in spite of probable gene flow; and (iii) this linkage disequilibrium should permit additional host adaptation, leading to further reproductive isolation via pleiotropy, and also provides conditions suitable for adaptive evolution of mate choice (reinforcement) to cause still further reductions in gene flow. Current data are too sparse to rule out a cryptic discontinuity in the apparently stable sympatric route from host–associated polymorphism to host–associated species, but such a hiatus seems unlikely on present evidence. Finally, we discuss applications of an understanding of host races in conservation and in managing adaptation by pests to control strategies, including those involving biological control or transgenic parasite–resistant plants.

Speciation

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Jane West-Eberhard
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Sympatric Speciation ◽  
Similar Species ◽  
Host Shifts ◽  
Phenotypic Divergence ◽  
Alternative Phenotypes ◽  
Living Things ◽  
As Species

In sexually reproducing organisms, speciation is lineage branching—the origin of reproductive isolation between sister populations descended from a single interbreeding parent population. Obviously, speciation is a process of fundamental importance in evolution. In sexually reproducing organisms, every persistent branching point of a phylogenetic tree, whether between very similar species or higher taxa, reflects a speciation event. Because complete reproductive isolation means the end of gene flow between populations, there is no doubt that it can facilitate genetic and phenotypic divergence. So speciation is a major cause of the diversification of living things. In nonsexual or uniparental populations, isolation between divergent populations may also be called speciation, but reduced gene flow can play no role. Such populations may become genetically distinctive and divergent due to differences in mutation, selection, and drift and thereby qualify as species under some definitions (see M. B. Williams, 1992, for a discussion of the species concept in asexual organisms). This chapter deals only with speciation in sexually reproducing organisms. By the usual view of speciation, some barrier to interbreeding comes first, followed or accompanied by genetic and phenotypic divergence. Reproductive isolation leads to divergence. Here I argue that the reverse may sometimes occur—that divergence, mediated by developmental plasticity and selection, may sometimes originate first and contribute to the evolution of reproductive isolation. As discussed in part III, evolution by disruptive and frequencydependent selection can produce a developmental switch between alternative phenotypes rather than loss of intermediate genotypes. This is particularly well documented in insects, often leading to misidentification of intraspecific morphs as species. Since polymorphic insects may have host-associated morphs, host shifts accompanied by distinctive morphology cannot be assumed to represent sympatric speciation or host-race formation, and sympatric speciation hypotheses need to decisively eliminate the possibility of a role for sympatric divergence in the form of polymorphism or behavioral and physiological plasticity. Such intraspecific host shifts may contribute to speciation, whether sympatric or allopatric, as discussed further below.

scholarly journals Strong yet incomplete reproductive isolation in Vermivora is not contradicted by other lines of evidence: A reply to Toews et al.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cody K. Porter ◽  
John L. Confer ◽  
Kyle R. Aldinger ◽  
Ronald A. Canterbury ◽  
Jeffrey L. Larkin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Incomplete Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Lines Of Evidence

Introgression between non-sister species of honeyeaters (Aves: Meliphagidae) several million years after speciation

2019 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-591
Author(s):  
Leo Joseph ◽  
Alex Drew ◽  
Ian J Mason ◽  
Jeffrey L Peters
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Sex Chromosomes ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Sister Species ◽  
Species Boundaries ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
The City

Abstract We reassessed whether two parapatric non-sister Australian honeyeater species (Aves: Meliphagidae), varied and mangrove honeyeaters (Gavicalis versicolor and G. fasciogularis, respectively), that diverged from a common ancestor c. 2.5 Mya intergrade in the Townsville area of north-eastern Queensland. Consistent with a previous specimen-based study, by using genomics methods we show one-way gene flow for autosomal but not Z-linked markers from varied into mangrove honeyeaters. Introgression barely extends south of the area of parapatry in and around the city of Townsville. While demonstrating the long-term porosity of species boundaries over several million years, our data also suggest a clear role of sex chromosomes in maintaining reproductive isolation.

scholarly journals Genomic evidence for divergence with gene flow in host races of the larch budmoth

2004 ◽  
Vol 271 (1534) ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Emelianov ◽  
Frantiŝek Marec ◽  
James Mallet
Keyword(s):  
Gene Flow ◽  
Host Races ◽  
Divergence With Gene Flow

scholarly journals Genome-Wide Regulatory Interactions in the Early Stages of Drosophila Speciation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alwyn Clark Go
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Expression Analysis ◽  
Regulatory Elements ◽  
Specific Expression ◽  
Allele Specific Expression ◽  
Regulatory Interactions ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Allele Specific ◽  
Incomplete Reproductive Isolation

Speciation occurs when reproductive barriers prevent the exchange of genetic information between individuals. A common form of reproductive barrier between species capable of interbreeding is hybrid sterility. Genomic incompatibilities between the divergent genomes of different species contribute to a reduction in hybrid fitness. These incompatibilities continue to accumulate after speciation, therefore, young divergent taxa with incomplete reproductive isolation are important in understating the genetics leading to speciation. Here, I use two Drosophila subspecies pairs. The first is D. willistoni consisting of D. w. willistoni and D. w. winge. The second subspecies pair is D. pseudoobscura, which is composed of D. p. pseudoobscura and D. p. bogotana. Both subspecies pairs are at the early stages of speciation and show incomplete reproductive isolation through unidirectional hybrid male sterility. In this thesis, I performed an exploratory survey of genome-wide expression analysis using RNA-sequencing on D. willistoni and determined the extent of regulatory divergence between the subspecies using allele-specific expression analysis. I found that misexpressed genes showed a degree of tissue specificity and that the sterile male hybrids had a higher proportion of misexpressed genes in the testes relative to the fertile hybrids. The analysis of regulatory divergence between this subspecies pair found a large (66-70%) proportion of genes with conserved regulatory elements. Of the genes showing evidence or regulatory divergence between subspecies, cis-regulatory divergence was more common than other types. In the D. pseudoobscura subspecies pair, I compared sequence and expression divergence and found no support for directional selection driving gene misexpression in their hybrids. Allele-specific expression analysis revealed that compensatory cis-trans mutations partly explained gene misexpression in the hybrids. The remaining hybrid misexpression occurs due to interacting gene networks or possible co-option of cis-regulatory elements by divergent transacting factors. Overall, the results of this thesis highlight the role of regulatory interactions in a hybrid genome and how these interactions could lead to hybrid breakdown by disrupting gene interaction networks.

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