Genomic release-recapture experiment in the wild reveals within-generation polygenic selection in stickleback fish

Nat Commun. 2020 Apr 21;11(1):1928. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15657-3.

Abstract

How rapidly natural selection sorts genome-wide standing genetic variation during adaptation remains largely unstudied experimentally. Here, we present a genomic release-recapture experiment using paired threespine stickleback fish populations adapted to selectively different lake and stream habitats. First, we use pooled whole-genome sequence data from the original populations to identify hundreds of candidate genome regions likely under divergent selection between these habitats. Next, we generate F2 hybrids from the same lake-stream population pair in the laboratory and release thousands of juveniles into a natural stream habitat. Comparing the individuals surviving one year of stream selection to a reference sample of F2 hybrids allows us to detect frequency shifts across the candidate regions toward the genetic variants typical of the stream population-an experimental outcome consistent with polygenic directional selection. Our study reveals that adaptation in nature can be detected as a genome-wide signal over just a single generation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Physiological / genetics
  • Alleles
  • Animals
  • Computational Biology
  • Ecosystem
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Female
  • Genetics, Population
  • Genome*
  • Lakes
  • Male
  • Phenotype
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Rivers
  • Selection, Genetic
  • Smegmamorpha / genetics*
  • Smegmamorpha / physiology*