Introgressive hybridization: brown bears as vectors for polar bear alleles

Molecular Ecology
Frank Hailer

Abstract

The dynamics and consequences of introgression can inform about numerous evolutionary processes. Biologists have therefore long been interested in hybridization. One challenge, however, lies in the identification of nonadmixed genotypes that can serve as a baseline for accurate quantification of admixture. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Cahill et al. (2015) analyse a genomic data set of 28 polar bears, eight brown bears and one American black bear. Polar bear alleles are found to be introgressed into brown bears not only near a previously identified admixture zone on the Alaskan Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof (ABC) Islands, but also far into the North American mainland. Elegantly contrasting admixture levels at autosomal and X chromosomal markers, Cahill and colleagues infer that male-biased dispersal has spread these introgressed alleles away from the Late Pleistocene contact zone. Compared to a previous study on the ABC Island population in which an Alaskan brown bear served as a putatively admixture-free reference, Cahill et al. (2015) utilize a newly sequenced Swedish brown bear as admixture baseline. This approach reveals that brown bears have been impacted by introgression from polar bears to a larger extent (up to...Continue Reading

References

May 8, 2010·Science·Richard E GreenSvante Pääbo
Feb 18, 2011·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Eric Y DurandMontgomery Slatkin
Jul 9, 2011·Current Biology : CB·Ceiridwen J EdwardsBeth Shapiro
Jul 25, 2012·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Webb MillerCharlotte Lindqvist
Feb 8, 2014·Genome Biology and Evolution·Andreanna J WelchCharlotte Lindqvist
Mar 29, 2014·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Tobias BidonFrank Hailer
Sep 24, 2014·Molecular Biology and Evolution·Simon H MartinChris D Jiggins
Dec 10, 2014·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Federico Sánchez-Quinto, Carles Lalueza-Fox

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