Gomes, B, Wilding, CS, Weetman, D, Sousa, CA, Novo, MT, Savage, HM, Almeida, APG, Pinto, J and Donnelly, MJ (2015) Limited genomic divergence between intraspecific forms of Culex pipiens under different ecological pressures. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 15. p. 197. ISSN 1471-2148

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Abstract

Abstract
Background: Divergent selection can be a major driver of ecological speciation. In insects of medical importance,
understanding the speciation process is both of academic interest and public health importance. In the West Nile
virus vector Culex pipiens, intraspecific pipiens and molestus forms vary in ecological and physiological traits.
Populations of each form appear to share recent common ancestry but patterns of genetic differentiation across
the genome remain unknown. Here, we undertook an AFLP genome scan on samples collected from both
sympatric and allopatric populations from Europe and the USA to quantify the extent of genomic differentiation
between the two forms.

Results: The forms were clearly differentiated but each exhibited major population sub-structuring between
continents. Divergence between pipiens and molestus forms from USA was higher than in both inter- and
intra-continental comparisons with European samples. The proportion of outlier loci between pipiens and molestus
(≈3 %) was low but consistent in both continents, and similar to those observed between sibling species of other
mosquito species which exhibit contemporary gene flow. Only two of the outlier loci were shared between
inter-form comparisons made within Europe and USA.

Conclusion: This study supports the molestus and pipiens status as distinct evolutionary entities with low genomic
divergence. The low number of shared divergent loci between continents suggests a relatively limited number of
genomic regions determining key typological traits likely to be driving incipient speciation and/or adaptation of
molestus to anthropogenic habitats.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	0603 Evolutionary Biology, 0604 Genetics
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General)
Divisions:	Natural Sciences & Psychology (closed 31 Aug 19)
Publisher:	BioMed Central
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2015 15:10
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 13:57
DOI or ID number:	10.1186/s12862-015-0477-z
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/2071

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