Genome‐wide analyses suggest parallel selection for universal traits may eclipse local environmental selection in a highly mobile carnivore

Abstract

Ecological and environmental heterogeneity can produce genetic differentiation in highly mobile species. Accordingly, local adaptation may be expected across comparatively short distances in the presence of marked environmental gradients. Within the European continent, wolves (Canis lupus) exhibit distinct north–south population differentiation. We investigated more than 67‐K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci for signatures of local adaptation in 59 unrelated wolves from four previously identified population clusters (northcentral Europe n = 32, Carpathian Mountains n = 7, Dinaric‐Balkan n = 9, Ukrainian Steppe n = 11). Our analyses combined identification of outlier loci with findings from genome‐wide association study of individual genomic profiles and 12 environmental variables. We identified 353 candidate SNP loci. We examined the SNP position and neighboring megabase (1 Mb, one million bases) regions in the dog (C. lupus familiaris) genome for genes potentially under selection, including homologue genes in other vertebrates. These regions included functional genes for, for example, temperature regulation that may indicate local adaptation and genes controlling for functions universally important for wolves, including olfaction, hearing, vision, and cognitive functions. We also observed strong outliers not associated with any of the investigated variables, which could suggest selective pressures associated with other unmeasured environmental variables and/or demographic factors. These patterns are further supported by the examination of spatial distributions of the SNPs associated with universally important traits, which typically show marked differences in allele frequencies among population clusters. Accordingly, parallel selection for features important to all wolves may eclipse local environmental selection and implies long‐term separation among population clusters.

Regional and local patterns of genetic variation and structure in yellow‐necked mice ‐ the roles of geographic distance, population abundance, and winter severity

“…Winter severity was found to be the main factor that explained the spatial distribution of the two main genetic clusters of mice in NE Poland. Although the pattern revealed by microsatellites is believed to reflect the neutral genetic variability, it can be highly consistent with the adaptive variability as has been shown for European wolves Canis lupus (Stronen et al, 2013(Stronen et al, , 2015. It was already found by Wójcik (1993) that-in a population inhabiting Białowieża Forest-mice surviving winter were not a random representation of population in respect of polymorphism in the transferrin locus.…”

Self-domestication in Homo sapiens: Insights from comparative genomics

“…For AMH comparisons with the Eurasian wolf ( Canis lupus lupus ) we used data from Stronen et al [ 54 ] (Tables 2, S3, and S5: genes under selection associated with environmental and geographic variables or with no obvious spatial patterns) and Pilot et al [ 53 ] (Table S4: genes adjacent to loci putatively under selection in European wolves). For the wisent ( Bison bonasus ) we used data from Gautier et al [ 55 ] (Table S3: genes under positive selection between the wisent and bovine lineages) and Wang et al [ 56 ] (Table S14: genes under positive selection in the wisent).…”

Wolf population genetics inEurope: a systematic review, meta‐analysis and suggestions for conservation and management

“…In a more recent study, Stronen et al . () observed differences among north‐central Europe, Carpathian Mountains, the Dinaric‐Balkan and the Ukrainian Steppe clusters for a number of SNP loci (353 out of 67000 SNPs) and neighbouring genes with known or assumed functions.…”