Molecular adaptation during a rapid adaptive radiation

"Explosive" adaptive radiations on islands remain one of the most puzzling evolutionary phenomena and the evolutionary genetic processes behind such radiations remain unclear. Rapid morphological and ecological evolution during island radiations suggests that many genes may be under fairly...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Molecular biology and evolution 2013-05, Vol.30 (5), p.1051-1059
Main Authors: Kapralov, Maxim V, Votintseva, Antonina A, Filatov, Dmitry A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological - genetics
Adaptation, Physiological - physiology
Adaptive radiation
Biological Evolution
Caryophyllaceae - classification
Caryophyllaceae - genetics
Discoveries
Endemic plants
Evolution
Flowers & plants
Genes
Genetics
Hawaii
Molecular biology
Molecular Sequence Data
Morphology
Photosynthesis
Phylogeny
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Summary:"Explosive" adaptive radiations on islands remain one of the most puzzling evolutionary phenomena and the evolutionary genetic processes behind such radiations remain unclear. Rapid morphological and ecological evolution during island radiations suggests that many genes may be under fairly strong selection, although this remains untested. Here, we report that during a rapid recent diversification in the Hawaiian endemic plant genus Schiedea (Caryophyllaceae), 5 in 36 studied genes evolved under positive selection. Positively selected genes are involved in defence mechanisms, photosynthesis, and reproduction. Comparison with eight mainland plant groups demonstrates both the relaxation of purifying selection and more widespread positive selection in Hawaiian Schiedea. This provides compelling evidence that adaptive evolution of protein-coding genes may play a significant role during island adaptive radiations.
ISSN:0737-4038
1537-1719
DOI:10.1093/molbev/mst013