Lack of Spatial Immunogenetic Structure among Wolverine (Gulo gulo) Populations Suggestive of Broad Scale Balancing Selection.
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 poly...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:f5f7d148f1194906967cbac0bdf7ed50 2023-05-15T16:32:20+02:00 Lack of Spatial Immunogenetic Structure among Wolverine (Gulo gulo) Populations Suggestive of Broad Scale Balancing Selection. Yessica Rico James Morris-Pocock Joanna Zigouris Joseph J Nocera Christopher J Kyle 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140170 https://doaj.org/article/f5f7d148f1194906967cbac0bdf7ed50 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140170 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140170 https://doaj.org/article/f5f7d148f1194906967cbac0bdf7ed50 PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 10, p e0140170 (2015) Medicine R Science Q article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140170 2022-12-31T12:48:45Z 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 analyses revealed weaker population genetic differentiation at MHC relative to the increasing microsatellite genetic structure towards the eastern wolverine distribution. Mantel correlations of MHC against geographical distances showed no pattern of isolation by distance (IBD: r = -0.03, p = 0.9), whereas for microsatellites we found a relatively strong and significant IBD (r = 0.54, p = 0.01). Moreover, we found a significant correlation between microsatellite allelic richness and the mean number of MHC alleles, but we did not observe low MHC diversity in small populations. Overall these results suggest that MHC polymorphism has been influenced primarily by balancing selection and to a lesser extent by neutral processes such as genetic drift, with no clear evidence for local adaptation. This study contributes to our understanding of how vulnerable populations of wolverines may respond to selective pressures across their range. Article in Journal/Newspaper Gulo gulo taiga Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada PLOS ONE 10 10 e0140170 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Yessica Rico James Morris-Pocock Joanna Zigouris Joseph J Nocera Christopher J Kyle Lack of Spatial Immunogenetic Structure among Wolverine (Gulo gulo) Populations Suggestive of Broad Scale Balancing Selection. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
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 analyses revealed weaker population genetic differentiation at MHC relative to the increasing microsatellite genetic structure towards the eastern wolverine distribution. Mantel correlations of MHC against geographical distances showed no pattern of isolation by distance (IBD: r = -0.03, p = 0.9), whereas for microsatellites we found a relatively strong and significant IBD (r = 0.54, p = 0.01). Moreover, we found a significant correlation between microsatellite allelic richness and the mean number of MHC alleles, but we did not observe low MHC diversity in small populations. Overall these results suggest that MHC polymorphism has been influenced primarily by balancing selection and to a lesser extent by neutral processes such as genetic drift, with no clear evidence for local adaptation. This study contributes to our understanding of how vulnerable populations of wolverines may respond to selective pressures across their range. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Yessica Rico James Morris-Pocock Joanna Zigouris Joseph J Nocera Christopher J Kyle |
author_facet |
Yessica Rico James Morris-Pocock Joanna Zigouris Joseph J Nocera Christopher J Kyle |
author_sort |
Yessica Rico |
title |
Lack of Spatial Immunogenetic Structure among Wolverine (Gulo gulo) Populations Suggestive of Broad Scale Balancing Selection. |
title_short |
Lack of Spatial Immunogenetic Structure among Wolverine (Gulo gulo) Populations Suggestive of Broad Scale Balancing Selection. |
title_full |
Lack of Spatial Immunogenetic Structure among Wolverine (Gulo gulo) Populations Suggestive of Broad Scale Balancing Selection. |
title_fullStr |
Lack of Spatial Immunogenetic Structure among Wolverine (Gulo gulo) Populations Suggestive of Broad Scale Balancing Selection. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Lack of Spatial Immunogenetic Structure among Wolverine (Gulo gulo) Populations Suggestive of Broad Scale Balancing Selection. |
title_sort |
lack of spatial immunogenetic structure among wolverine (gulo gulo) populations suggestive of broad scale balancing selection. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140170 https://doaj.org/article/f5f7d148f1194906967cbac0bdf7ed50 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Gulo gulo taiga Tundra |
genre_facet |
Gulo gulo taiga Tundra |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 10, p e0140170 (2015) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140170 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0140170 https://doaj.org/article/f5f7d148f1194906967cbac0bdf7ed50 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140170 |
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PLOS ONE |
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10 |
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10 |
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e0140170 |
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1766022096986570752 |