Abstract
BackgroundThe adaptive evolution of species response to environment are the key issues in molecular ecology and evolutionary biology. The direction of adaptive differentiation of species in regions lacking strong selection pressure is usually diverse. However, the driving mechanism of the diverse adaptive differentiation for regional species is still undetermined to date. In this study, we used landscape genomics modelling to infer the adaptive evolution of Cotinus coggygria in China’s warm-temperate zone.ResultsUsing fifteen natural populations and nine start codon targeted (SCoT) markers, a total of 1131 unambiguous loci were yielded. Our results showed two genetic groups existed in the fifteen natural populations of C. coggygria, which is due to the divergent selection driven by six environmental factors. Environmental association analyses revealed the environmental variables related to precipitation were associated with high numbers of environment-associated loci.ConclusionsOur results indicated that the ecological characters of C. coggygria, i.e. avoiding wetness and tolerating drought, determine its adaptive evolution. This study provides a reference that ecological character determines the adaptive evolution of species in regions lacking strong selection pressure.
Highlights
The adaptive evolution of species response to environment are the key issues in molecular ecology and evolutionary biology
Genetic structure Nine start codon targeted (SCoT) primers were selected in investigating the population genetic structure in C. coggygria
Our results suggested the environmental variables associated with the ecological characters of tolerating drought and avoiding wetness played more important roles in adaptive evolution in C. coggygria
Summary
The adaptive evolution of species response to environment are the key issues in molecular ecology and evolutionary biology. The adaptive evolution of species response to environment are the fundamental issues in molecular ecology and evolutionary biology. Under the pressure of climate change, species either adapt or become extinct [1]. Species adaptation response to rapid climate change can be divided into two. Species adapt through migration to adjust the distribution [2]. For species that cannot adapt to climate change through migration, they resort to local adaptation. These species require adaptive changes, especially in terms of phenology, reproductive behavior, and phenotypic characteristics [3].
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