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Divergence in gene expression within and between two closely related flycatcher species

Uebbing, Severin ; Künstner, Axel ; Mäkinen, Hannu ; Backström, Niclas ; Bolivar, Paulina LU ; Burri, Reto ; Dutoit, Ludovic ; Mugal, Carina F ; Nater, Alexander and Aken, Bronwen , et al. (2016) In Molecular Ecology 25(9). p.28-2015
Abstract

Relatively little is known about the character of gene expression evolution as species diverge. It is for instance unclear if gene expression generally evolves in a clock-like manner (by stabilizing selection or neutral evolution) or if there are frequent episodes of directional selection. To gain insights into the evolutionary divergence of gene expression, we sequenced and compared the transcriptomes of multiple organs from population samples of collared (Ficedula albicollis) and pied flycatchers (F. hypoleuca), two species which diverged less than one million years ago. Ordination analysis separated samples by organ rather than by species. Organs differed in their degrees of expression variance within species and expression... (More)

Relatively little is known about the character of gene expression evolution as species diverge. It is for instance unclear if gene expression generally evolves in a clock-like manner (by stabilizing selection or neutral evolution) or if there are frequent episodes of directional selection. To gain insights into the evolutionary divergence of gene expression, we sequenced and compared the transcriptomes of multiple organs from population samples of collared (Ficedula albicollis) and pied flycatchers (F. hypoleuca), two species which diverged less than one million years ago. Ordination analysis separated samples by organ rather than by species. Organs differed in their degrees of expression variance within species and expression divergence between species. Variance was negatively correlated with expression breadth and protein interactivity, suggesting that pleiotropic constraints reduce gene expression variance within species. Variance was correlated with between-species divergence, consistent with a pattern expected from stabilizing selection and neutral evolution. Using an expression PST approach, we identified genes differentially expressed between species and found 16 genes uniquely expressed in one of the species. For one of these, DPP7, uniquely expressed in collared flycatcher, the absence of expression in pied flycatcher could be associated with a ≈20-kb deletion including 11 of 13 exons. This study of a young vertebrate speciation model system expands our knowledge of how gene expression evolves as natural populations become reproductively isolated.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Evolutionary Biology, Gene Expression, Genetic Drift, Genetic Pleiotropy, Genetics, Population, Models, Genetic, Selection, Genetic, Songbirds/classification, Species Specificity
in
Molecular Ecology
volume
25
issue
9
pages
28 - 2015
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • pmid:26928872
  • scopus:84962820636
ISSN
0962-1083
DOI
10.1111/mec.13596
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
© 2016 The Authors. Molecular Ecology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
id
6f58768e-b360-41d1-8029-6bd32d6dda4a
date added to LUP
2024-05-14 11:17:22
date last changed
2024-05-15 04:00:35
@article{6f58768e-b360-41d1-8029-6bd32d6dda4a,
  abstract     = {{<p>Relatively little is known about the character of gene expression evolution as species diverge. It is for instance unclear if gene expression generally evolves in a clock-like manner (by stabilizing selection or neutral evolution) or if there are frequent episodes of directional selection. To gain insights into the evolutionary divergence of gene expression, we sequenced and compared the transcriptomes of multiple organs from population samples of collared (Ficedula albicollis) and pied flycatchers (F. hypoleuca), two species which diverged less than one million years ago. Ordination analysis separated samples by organ rather than by species. Organs differed in their degrees of expression variance within species and expression divergence between species. Variance was negatively correlated with expression breadth and protein interactivity, suggesting that pleiotropic constraints reduce gene expression variance within species. Variance was correlated with between-species divergence, consistent with a pattern expected from stabilizing selection and neutral evolution. Using an expression PST approach, we identified genes differentially expressed between species and found 16 genes uniquely expressed in one of the species. For one of these, DPP7, uniquely expressed in collared flycatcher, the absence of expression in pied flycatcher could be associated with a ≈20-kb deletion including 11 of 13 exons. This study of a young vertebrate speciation model system expands our knowledge of how gene expression evolves as natural populations become reproductively isolated.</p>}},
  author       = {{Uebbing, Severin and Künstner, Axel and Mäkinen, Hannu and Backström, Niclas and Bolivar, Paulina and Burri, Reto and Dutoit, Ludovic and Mugal, Carina F and Nater, Alexander and Aken, Bronwen and Flicek, Paul and Martin, Fergal J and Searle, Stephen M J and Ellegren, Hans}},
  issn         = {{0962-1083}},
  keywords     = {{Evolutionary Biology; Gene Expression; Genetic Drift; Genetic Pleiotropy; Genetics, Population; Models, Genetic; Selection, Genetic; Songbirds/classification; Species Specificity}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{9}},
  pages        = {{28--2015}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Molecular Ecology}},
  title        = {{Divergence in gene expression within and between two closely related flycatcher species}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.13596}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/mec.13596}},
  volume       = {{25}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}