Genetic structure of the protist Physarum albescens (Amoebozoa) revealed by multiple markers and Genotyping by Sequencing

Abstract Information on how migratory populations are genetically structured during the overwintering season of the annual cycle can improve our understanding of the strength of migratory connectivity and help identify populations as units for management. Here, we use a genotype-by-sequencing approach to investigate whether population genetic structure exists among overwintering aggregations of the Pacific Dunlin subspecies (Calidris alpina pacifica) sampled at 2 spatial scales (within and among overwintering sites) in the eastern Pacific Flyway. Genome-wide analyses of 874 single nucleotide polymorphisms across 80 sampled individuals revealed no evidence for genetic differentiation among aggregations overwintering at 3 locations within the Fraser River Estuary (FRE) of British Columbia. Similarly, comparisons of aggregations in the FRE and those overwintering in southern sites in California and Mexico indicated no genetic segregation between northern and southern overwintering areas. These results suggest that Pacific Dunlin within the FRE, Sacramento Valley (California), and Guerrero Negro (Mexico) are genetically homogeneous, with no evident genetic structure between sampled sites or regions across the overwintering range. Despite no evidence for differentiation among aggregations, we identified a significant effect of geographical distance between sites on the distribution of individual genotypes in a redundancy analysis. A small proportion of the total genotypic variance (R2 =0.036, P = 0.011) was explained by the combined effect of latitude and longitude, suggesting weak genomic patterns of isolation-by-distance that are consistent with chain-like migratory connectivity between breeding and overwintering areas. Our study represents the first genome-scale investigation of population structure for a Dunlin subspecies and provides essential baseline estimates of genomic diversity and differentiation within the Pacific Dunlin.

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A strategic sampling design revealed the local genetic structure of cold-water fluvial sculpin: a focus on groundwater-dependent water temperature heterogeneity

10.1101/2021.03.19.435938 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Souta Nakajima ◽

Masanao Sueyoshi ◽

Shun K. Hirota ◽

Nobuo Ishiyama ◽

Ayumi Matsuo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Structure ◽

Low Temperature ◽

Genetic Differentiation ◽

Water Temperature ◽

Sampling Design ◽

Cold Water ◽

Isolation By Distance ◽

Geographic Distance ◽

Sampling Strategy ◽

Genotyping By Sequencing

A key piece of information for ecosystem management is the relationship between the environment and population genetic structure. However, it is difficult to clearly quantify the effects of environmental factors on genetic differentiation because of spatial autocorrelation and analytical problems. In this study, we focused on stream ecosystems and the environmental heterogeneity caused by groundwater and constructed a sampling design in which geographic distance and environmental differences are not correlated. Using multiplexed ISSR genotyping by sequencing (MIG-seq) method, a fine-scale population genetics study was conducted in fluvial sculpin Cottus nozawae, for which summer water temperature is the determinant factor in distribution and survival. There was a clear genetic structure in the watershed. Although a significant isolation-by-distance pattern was detected in the watershed, there was no association between genetic differentiation and water temperature. Instead, asymmetric gene flow from relatively low-temperature streams to high-temperature streams was detected, indicating the importance of low-temperature streams and continuous habitats. The groundwater-focused sampling strategy yielded unexpected results and provided important insights for conservation.

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Landscape genomics of an obligate mutualism: discordant population structures between a leafcutter-ant and its fungal cultivars

10.1101/458950 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Chad C. Smith ◽

Jesse N. Weber ◽

Alexander S. Mikheyev ◽

Flavio Roces ◽

Martin Bollazzi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Gene Flow ◽

Genetic Structure ◽

Abiotic Factors ◽

Genotyping By Sequencing ◽

Range Limit ◽

Range Margin ◽

Landscape Genomics ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Obligate Mutualism

AbstractTo explore landscape genomics at the range limit of an obligate mutualism, we used genotyping-by-sequencing (ddRADseq) to quantify population structure and the effect of hostsymbiont interactions between the northernmost fungus-farming leafcutter ant Atta texana and its two main types of cultivated fungus. At local scales, genome-wide differentiation between ants associated with either of the two fungal types is greater than the differentiation associated with the abiotic factors temperature and precipitation, suggesting that specific ant-fungus genome-genome combinations may have been favored by selection. For the ant hosts, we found a broad cline of genetic structure across the range, and a reduction of genetic diversity along the axis of range expansion towards the range margin. In contrast, genetic structure was patchy in the cultivated fungi, with no consistent reduction of fungal genetic diversity at the range margins. This discordance in population-genetic structure between ant hosts and fungal symbionts is surprising because the ant farmers co-disperse with their vertically-transmitted fungal symbionts, but apparently the fungi disperse occasionally also through between-nest horizontal transfer or other unknown dispersal mechanisms. The discordance in populationgenetic structure indicates that genetic drift and gene flow differ in magnitude between each partner in this leafcutter mutualism. Together, these findings imply that variation in the strength of drift and gene flow experienced by each mutualistic partner affects adaptation to environmental stress at the range margin, and genome-genome interactions between host and symbiont influences adaptive genetic differentiation of the host during range evolution in this obligate mutualism.

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Genetic structure of immunologically associated candidate genes suggests arctic rabies variants exert differential selection in arctic fox populations

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0258975 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (10) ◽

pp. e0258975

Author(s):

Tristan M. Baecklund ◽

Michael E. Donaldson ◽

Karsten Hueffer ◽

Christopher J. Kyle

Keyword(s):

Genetic Structure ◽

Candidate Genes ◽

Local Adaptation ◽

Genotyping By Sequencing ◽

Past Research ◽

Disease Spread ◽

The Arctic ◽

Arctic Fox ◽

Primary Host ◽

Differential Selection

Patterns of local adaptation can emerge in response to the selective pressures diseases exert on host populations as reflected in increased frequencies of respective, advantageous genotypes. Elucidating patterns of local adaptation enhance our understanding of mechanisms of disease spread and the capacity for species to adapt in context of rapidly changing environments such as the Arctic. Arctic rabies is a lethal disease that largely persists in northern climates and overlaps with the distribution of its natural host, arctic fox. Arctic fox populations display little neutral genetic structure across their North American range, whereas phylogenetically unique arctic rabies variants are restricted in their geographic distributions. It remains unknown if arctic rabies variants impose differential selection upon host populations, nor what role different rabies variants play in the maintenance and spread of this disease. Using a targeted, genotyping-by-sequencing assay, we assessed correlations of arctic fox immunogenetic variation with arctic rabies variants to gain further insight into the epidemiology of this disease. Corroborating past research, we found no neutral genetic structure between sampled regions, but did find moderate immunogenetic structuring between foxes predominated by different arctic rabies variants. FST outliers associated with host immunogenetic structure included SNPs within interleukin and Toll-like receptor coding regions (IL12B, IL5, TLR3 and NFKB1); genes known to mediate host responses to rabies. While these data do not necessarily reflect causation, nor a direct link to arctic rabies, the contrasting genetic structure of immunologically associated candidate genes with neutral loci is suggestive of differential selection and patterns of local adaptation in this system. These data are somewhat unexpected given the long-lived nature and dispersal capacities of arctic fox; traits expected to undermine local adaptation. Overall, these data contribute to our understanding of the co-evolutionary relationships between arctic rabies and their primary host and provide data relevant to the management of this disease.

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