Genealogy of the nuclear beta-fibrinogen locus in a highly structured lizard species: comparison with mtDNA and evidence for intragenic recombination in the hybrid zone

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2006

Authors

godinho, r (Author) Other; Mendonca, B (Author) Other; Crespo, EG (Author) Other; ferrand, n (Author) FCUP

Journal

Title: Heredity

Vol. 96

Pages: 454-463

ISSN: 0018-067X

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 34 Citations

Scopus - 33 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-004-KE0

DOI: 10.1038/sj.hdy.6800823

Abstract (EN): The study of nuclear genealogies in natural populations of nonmodel organisms is expected to provide novel insights into the evolutionary history of populations, especially when developed in the framework of well-established mtDNA phylogeographical scenarios. In the Iberian Peninsula, the endemic Schreiber's green lizard Lacerta schreiberi exhibits two highly divergent and allopatric mtDNA lineages that started to split during the late Pliocene. In this work, we performed a fine-scale analysis of the putative mtDNA contact zone together with a global analysis of the patterns of variation observed at the nuclear beta-fibrinogen intron 7 (beta-fibint7). Using a combination of DNA sequencing with single-strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis, we show that the observed genealogy at the beta-fibint7 locus reveals extensive admixture between two formerly isolated lizard populations while the two mtDNA lineages remain essentially allopatric. In addition, a private beta-fibint7 haplotype detected in the single population where both mtDNA lineages were found in sympatry is probably the result of intragenic recombination between the two more common and divergent beta-fibint7 haplotypes. Our results suggest that the progressive incorporation of nuclear genealogies in investigating the ancient demography and admixture dynamics of divergent genomes will be necessary to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the evolutionary history of organisms.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 10