TY - JOUR

T1 - High rate of meiotic recombination and its implications for intricate speciation patterns in the white wagtail (Motacilla alba)

AU - Semenov, Georgy A.

AU - Basheva, Ekaterina A.

AU - Borodin, Pavel M.

AU - Torgasheva, Anna A.

PY - 2018/10/29

Y1 - 2018/10/29

N2 - Conspicuous phenotypic differences sometimes coexist with shallow genome-wide divergence between taxa. Along with genomically localized selection and extensive gene flow, a high rate of meiotic recombination might contribute to such a pattern; however, empirical evidence for the latter is lacking. We studied meiotic recombination in the white wagtail (Motacilla alba) - a bird species showing extensive divergence in plumage traits but little genomic differentiation, yet broadly incongruent geographical variation between morphological traits and genetic markers. We found that the white wagtail (2n = 82) has the highest number of recombination nodules per autosome set (76.1 ± 8.6) and thus the longest autosomal genetic map (3805 cM) among all birds examined to date. We suggest that a high recombination rate could promote decoupling of phenotypic and genetic variation and influence the genetic architecture of traits involved in reproductive barriers. Our study highlights the importance of studying meiotic recombination within a unified methodological framework, and the need for a broader sampling of taxa to understand how variation in recombination rates contributes to patterns of speciation.

AB - Conspicuous phenotypic differences sometimes coexist with shallow genome-wide divergence between taxa. Along with genomically localized selection and extensive gene flow, a high rate of meiotic recombination might contribute to such a pattern; however, empirical evidence for the latter is lacking. We studied meiotic recombination in the white wagtail (Motacilla alba) - a bird species showing extensive divergence in plumage traits but little genomic differentiation, yet broadly incongruent geographical variation between morphological traits and genetic markers. We found that the white wagtail (2n = 82) has the highest number of recombination nodules per autosome set (76.1 ± 8.6) and thus the longest autosomal genetic map (3805 cM) among all birds examined to date. We suggest that a high recombination rate could promote decoupling of phenotypic and genetic variation and influence the genetic architecture of traits involved in reproductive barriers. Our study highlights the importance of studying meiotic recombination within a unified methodological framework, and the need for a broader sampling of taxa to understand how variation in recombination rates contributes to patterns of speciation.

KW - Crossing over

KW - MLH1

KW - Recombination

KW - Speciation

KW - Synaptonemal complex

KW - QUAIL COTURNIX-JAPONICA

KW - recombination

KW - GENETIC-LINKAGE MAP

KW - DISEQUILIBRIUM

KW - synaptonemal complex

KW - SYNAPTONEMAL COMPLEXES

KW - speciation

KW - EQUAL RECOMBINATION

KW - GENOMIC DIVERGENCE

KW - EVOLUTION

KW - CHICKEN

KW - REGIONS

KW - CROSSING-OVER

KW - crossing over

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057163797&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/biolinnean/bly133

DO - 10.1093/biolinnean/bly133

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85057163797

VL - 125

SP - 600

EP - 612

JO - Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

JF - Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

SN - 0024-4066

IS - 3

ER -