Data from: Lack of spatial immunogenetic structure among wolverine (Gulo gulo) populations suggestive of broad scale balancing selection ...

• Main Authors: Rico, Yessica, Morris-Pocock, James, Zigouris, Joanna, Nocera, Joseph J., Kyle, Christopher J.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2016
• Subjects: gene flow and drift; Gulo gulo; Major histocompatibility complex; northern ecosystems; vulnerable populations; Balancing selection; Canada; taiga; Tundra
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bd70m; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.bd70m

Elucidating the adaptive genetic potential of wildlife populations to environmental selective pressures is fundamental for species conservation. Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are highly polymorphic, and play a key role in the adaptive immune response against pathogens. MHC polymorphism has been linked to balancing selection or heterogeneous selection promoting local adaptation. However, spatial patterns of MHC polymorphism are also influenced by gene flow and drift. Wolverines are highly vagile, inhabiting varied ecoregions that include boreal forest, taiga, tundra, and high alpine ecosystems. Here, we investigated the immunogenetic variation of wolverines in Canada as a surrogate for identifying local adaptation by contrasting the genetic structure at MHC relative to the structure at 11 neutral microsatellites to account for gene flow and drift. Evidence of historical positive selection was detected at MHC using maximum likelihood codon-based methods. Bayesian and multivariate cluster ... : wolverine (Gulo gulo) MHC dataMHC alleles present/absent for 269 wolverines and nine sampling regions.Wolverine_MHC_binary_encoded_data.xlsWolverine (Gulo gulo) microsatellite dataData for eleven microsatellite loci (as base pair in length) for 269 wolverines and nine sampling regionsWolverine_11microsatellites_data.xls ...