Mammalian microevolution in action: adaptive edaphic genomic divergence in blind subterranean mole-rats

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
Andrei PolyakovE Nevo

Abstract

Genomic diversity of anonymous regions across the genome, most probably including coding and noncoding amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs), was examined in 20 individuals of the blind mole-rat, Spalax galili, one of four allospecies of the Spalax ehrenbergi superspecies of blind subterranean mole-rats in Israel. We compared 10 individuals from two nearby populations in Upper Galilee, separated by only a few dozen to hundreds of metres and living in two sharply contrasting ecologies: white chalk and rendzina soil with Sarcopterium spinosum and Majorana syriaca versus black volcanic basalt soil with Carlina hispanica-Psorelea bitominosa and Alhagi graecorum plant formations. The microsite tested ranged in an area of less than 10000 m2. Out of 729 AFLP loci, 433 (59.4%) were polymorphic, with 211 soil unique alleles. Genetic polymorphism was significantly higher on the ecologically more xeric and stressful chalky rendzina soil than on the neighbouring mesic basalt soil. This is a remarkable pattern for a mammal that can disperse each generation between tens to hundreds of metres. These results cannot be explained by migration (which causes homogenization) or by chance (which will exclude sharp genomic soil divergence)....Continue Reading

References

Dec 1, 1973·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·M Nei
Nov 11, 1995·Nucleic Acids Research·P VosM Kuiper
May 24, 2001·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·E Nevo
Dec 23, 2003·Genetica·Alex Beharav, Eviatar Nevo

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Citations

Mar 31, 2010·Journal of Comparative Physiology. B, Biochemical, Systemic, and Environmental Physiology·I H TomascoF Bozinovic
Jan 30, 2013·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Yarin HadidEviatar Nevo
Jan 26, 2007·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Emmanuel MilotLouis Bernatchez
Sep 6, 2015·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Kexin LiHuabin Zhao
Jun 25, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Kexin LiEviatar Nevo

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