Work

Speciation by genome duplication: Repeated origins and genomic composition of the recently formed allopolyploid speciesMimulus peregrinus

Year: 2015

Type: article

Abstract: Whole genome duplication (polyploidization) is a mechanism of "instantaneous" species formation that has played a major role in the evolutionary history of plants. Much of what we know about the early evolution of polyploids is based upon studies of a handful of recently formed species. A new polyploid hybrid (allopolyploid) species Mimulus peregrinus, formed within the last 140 years, was recently discovered on the Scottish mainland and corroborated by chromosome counts. Here, using targeted, high-depth sequencing of 1200 genic regions, we confirm the parental origins of this new species from M. x robertsii, a sterile triploid hybrid between the two introduced species M. guttatus and M. luteus that are naturalized and widespread in the United Kingdom. We also report a new population of M. peregrinus on the Orkney Islands and demonstrate that populations on the Scottish mainland and Orkney Islands arose independently via genome duplication from local populations of M. x robertsii. Our data raise the possibility that some alleles are already being lost in the evolving M. peregrinus genomes. The recent origins of a new species of the ecological model genus Mimulus via allopolyploidization provide a powerful opportunity to explore the early stages of hybridization and genome duplication in naturally evolved lineages.

Source: Evolution

DOI: 10.1111/evo.12678

Authors: Mario Vallejo-Marín, Richard J. A. Buggs, Arielle M. Cooley, Joshua R. Puzey

Institutions: University of Stirling, Queen Mary University of London, Whitman College, William & Mary

Language: English

Topic: Chromosomal and Genetic Variations

Subfield: Plant Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,214

Funders: NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council