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Migration direction in a songbird explained by two loci

Sokolovskis, Kristaps LU orcid ; Lundberg, Max LU ; Åkesson, Susanne LU ; Willemoes, Mikkel LU ; Zhao, Tianhao ; Caballero-Lopez, Violeta LU orcid and Bensch, Staffan LU (2023) In Nature Communications 14.
Abstract

Migratory routes and remote wintering quarters in birds are often species and even population specific. It has been known for decades that songbirds mainly migrate solitarily, and that the migration direction is genetically controlled. Yet, the underlying genetic mechanisms remain unknown. To investigate the genetic basis of migration direction, we track genotyped willow warblers Phylloscopus trochilus from a migratory divide in Sweden, where South-West migrating, and South-East migrating subspecies form a hybrid swarm. We find evidence that migration direction follows a dominant inheritance pattern with epistatic interaction between two loci explaining 74% of variation. Consequently, most hybrids migrate similarly to one of the... (More)

Migratory routes and remote wintering quarters in birds are often species and even population specific. It has been known for decades that songbirds mainly migrate solitarily, and that the migration direction is genetically controlled. Yet, the underlying genetic mechanisms remain unknown. To investigate the genetic basis of migration direction, we track genotyped willow warblers Phylloscopus trochilus from a migratory divide in Sweden, where South-West migrating, and South-East migrating subspecies form a hybrid swarm. We find evidence that migration direction follows a dominant inheritance pattern with epistatic interaction between two loci explaining 74% of variation. Consequently, most hybrids migrate similarly to one of the parental subspecies, and therefore do not suffer from the cost of following an inferior, intermediate route. This has significant implications for understanding the selection processes that maintain narrow migratory divides.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Animals, Songbirds/genetics, Animal Migration, Passeriformes, Sweden, Seasons
in
Nature Communications
volume
14
article number
165
pages
6 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:36631459
  • scopus:85146140943
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/s41467-023-35788-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
© 2023. The Author(s).
id
e8001c8c-3287-4449-a413-4f93e8948ff9
date added to LUP
2023-01-30 11:29:22
date last changed
2024-06-25 18:43:03
@article{e8001c8c-3287-4449-a413-4f93e8948ff9,
  abstract     = {{<p>Migratory routes and remote wintering quarters in birds are often species and even population specific. It has been known for decades that songbirds mainly migrate solitarily, and that the migration direction is genetically controlled. Yet, the underlying genetic mechanisms remain unknown. To investigate the genetic basis of migration direction, we track genotyped willow warblers Phylloscopus trochilus from a migratory divide in Sweden, where South-West migrating, and South-East migrating subspecies form a hybrid swarm. We find evidence that migration direction follows a dominant inheritance pattern with epistatic interaction between two loci explaining 74% of variation. Consequently, most hybrids migrate similarly to one of the parental subspecies, and therefore do not suffer from the cost of following an inferior, intermediate route. This has significant implications for understanding the selection processes that maintain narrow migratory divides.</p>}},
  author       = {{Sokolovskis, Kristaps and Lundberg, Max and Åkesson, Susanne and Willemoes, Mikkel and Zhao, Tianhao and Caballero-Lopez, Violeta and Bensch, Staffan}},
  issn         = {{2041-1723}},
  keywords     = {{Animals; Songbirds/genetics; Animal Migration; Passeriformes; Sweden; Seasons}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Communications}},
  title        = {{Migration direction in a songbird explained by two loci}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-35788-7}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41467-023-35788-7}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}