Affiliation:
1. Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
2. College of Life Science University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
3. Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming China
Abstract
AbstractEarly events in the evolution of an ancestral lineage can shape the adaptive patterns of descendant species, but the evolutionary mechanisms driving initial adaptation from an ancestor remain largely unexplored. High‐altitude adaptations have been extensively explored from the viewpoint of protein‐coding genes; however, the contribution of noncoding regions remains relatively neglected. Here, we integrate genomic and transcriptomic data to investigate adaptive evolution in the ancestor of three high‐altitude snowfinch species endemic to the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Our genome‐wide scan for adaptation in the snowfinch ancestor identifies strong adaptation signals in functions of development and metabolism for the coding genes, but in functions of the nervous system development for noncoding regions. This pattern is exclusive to the snowfinch ancestor compared to a control ancestral lineage subject to weak selection. Changes in noncoding regions in the snowfinch ancestor, especially those nearest to coding genes, may be disproportionately associated with the differential expression of genes in the brain tissue compared to other tissues. Extensive gene expression in the brain tissue can be further altered via genetic regulatory networks of transcription factors harbouring potential accelerated regulatory regions (e.g., the development‐related transcription factor YEATS4). Altogether, our study provides new evidence concerning how coding and noncoding sequences work through decoupled pathways in initial adaptation to the selective pressure of high‐altitude environments. The analysis highlights the idea that noncoding sequences may be promising elements in facilitating the rapid evolution and adaptation to high altitudes.
Funder
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Genetics,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cited by
2 articles.
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