Adaptive introgression underlies polymorphic seasonal camouflage in snowshoe hares.
- Jones MR Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA. matthew2.jones@umontana.edu jmeloferreira@cibio.up.pt jeffrey.good@umontana.edu.
- Mills LS Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA.
- Alves PC Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA.
- Callahan CM Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA.
- Alves JM CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
- Lafferty DJR Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA.
- Jiggins FM Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EH, UK.
- Jensen JD School of Life Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Melo-Ferreira J CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal. matthew2.jones@umontana.edu jmeloferreira@cibio.up.pt jeffrey.good@umontana.edu.
- Good JM Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA. matthew2.jones@umontana.edu jmeloferreira@cibio.up.pt jeffrey.good@umontana.edu.
- 2018-06-23
Published in:
- Science (New York, N.Y.). - 2018
Agouti Signaling Protein
Animals
Biological Mimicry
Gene Expression Regulation
Genetic Variation
Hares
Molting
Seasons
Skin Pigmentation
English
Snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) maintain seasonal camouflage by molting to a white winter coat, but some hares remain brown during the winter in regions with low snow cover. We show that cis-regulatory variation controlling seasonal expression of the Agouti gene underlies this adaptive winter camouflage polymorphism. Genetic variation at Agouti clustered by winter coat color across multiple hare and jackrabbit species, revealing a history of recurrent interspecific gene flow. Brown winter coats in snowshoe hares likely originated from an introgressed black-tailed jackrabbit allele that has swept to high frequency in mild winter environments. These discoveries show that introgression of genetic variants that underlie key ecological traits can seed past and ongoing adaptation to rapidly changing environments.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- bronze
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1126/science.aar5273
- PMID 29930138
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/105711
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