IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v8y2017i1d10.1038_ncomms14363.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ancient hybridization fuels rapid cichlid fish adaptive radiations

Author

Listed:
  • Joana I. Meier

    (Aquatic Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern
    Centre for Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
    Computational and Molecular Population Genetics Lab, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern)

  • David A. Marques

    (Aquatic Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern
    Centre for Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
    Computational and Molecular Population Genetics Lab, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern)

  • Salome Mwaiko

    (Aquatic Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern
    Centre for Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology)

  • Catherine E. Wagner

    (Aquatic Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern
    Centre for Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
    University of Wyoming)

  • Laurent Excoffier

    (Computational and Molecular Population Genetics Lab, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern
    Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics)

  • Ole Seehausen

    (Aquatic Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern
    Centre for Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry, Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology)

Abstract

Understanding why some evolutionary lineages generate exceptionally high species diversity is an important goal in evolutionary biology. Haplochromine cichlid fishes of Africa’s Lake Victoria region encompass >700 diverse species that all evolved in the last 150,000 years. How this ‘Lake Victoria Region Superflock’ could evolve on such rapid timescales is an enduring question. Here, we demonstrate that hybridization between two divergent lineages facilitated this process by providing genetic variation that subsequently became recombined and sorted into many new species. Notably, the hybridization event generated exceptional allelic variation at an opsin gene known to be involved in adaptation and speciation. More generally, differentiation between new species is accentuated around variants that were fixed differences between the parental lineages, and that now appear in many new combinations in the radiation species. We conclude that hybridization between divergent lineages, when coincident with ecological opportunity, may facilitate rapid and extensive adaptive radiation.

Suggested Citation

  • Joana I. Meier & David A. Marques & Salome Mwaiko & Catherine E. Wagner & Laurent Excoffier & Ole Seehausen, 2017. "Ancient hybridization fuels rapid cichlid fish adaptive radiations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-11, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14363
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14363
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14363
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms14363?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gabriela Montejo-Kovacevich & Joana I. Meier & Caroline N. Bacquet & Ian A. Warren & Yingguang Frank Chan & Marek Kucka & Camilo Salazar & Nicol Rueda-M & Stephen H. Montgomery & W. Owen McMillan & Kr, 2022. "Repeated genetic adaptation to altitude in two tropical butterflies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14363. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.