Multiple Selection Signatures in Farmed Atlantic Salmon Adapted to Different Environments Across Hemispheres

• Published in: Frontiers in Genetics
• Main Authors: María Eugenia López, Tyler Linderoth, Ashie Norris, Jean Paul Lhorente, Roberto Neira, José Manuel Yáñez
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019
• Subjects: selection signatures; Salmo salar; Domestication; SNP data; artificial selection; Genetics; QH426-470; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2019.00901; https://doaj.org/article/29269e7a95714927967a2dc594028631

Domestication of Atlantic salmon started approximately 40 years ago, using artificial selection through genetic improvement programs. Selection is likely to have imposed distinctive signatures on the salmon genome, which are often characterized by high genetic differentiation across population and/or reduction in genetic diversity in regions associated to traits under selection. The identification of such selection signatures may give insights into the candidate genomic regions of biological and commercial interest. Here, we used three complementary statistics to detect selection signatures, two haplotype-based (iHS and XP-EHH), and one FST-based method (BayeScan) among four populations of Atlantic salmon with a common genetic origin. Several regions were identified for these techniques that harbored genes, such as kind1 and chp2, which have been associated with growth-related traits or the kcnb2 gene related to immune system in Atlantic salmon, making them particularly relevant in the context of aquaculture. Our results provide candidate genes to inform the evolutionary and biological mechanisms controlling complex selected traits in Atlantic salmon.