Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2017
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E92
Höfundar / Authors: Johannes Gudbrandsson, Sigridur R. Franzdottir, Sigurdur S. Snorrason, Arnar Palsson, Zophonias O. Jonsson
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, University of Iceland
Kynnir / Presenter: Han Xiao
Predictability and repeatability of evolution are of fundamental interest in evolutionary biology yet difficult to test. Considered among the most diverse of vertebrate species, Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) colonized Iceland following the retreat of last ice age (~10,000 years ago) and have diversified into multiple sympatric morphs and allopatric dwarf forms. We investigate the phenotypic parallelism and the extent to which this is reflected in the genome. Further, we intend to identify key genes and pathways that associate with ecological phenotypic specialization in Icelandic Arctic charr. This is achieved by documenting the adaptive phenotypic traits using geometric morphometrics and analysis of life history and RADseq analysis of genetic structure in 30 distinct dwarf populations, 3 sympatirc lake resident populations and 7 anadromous populations. Preliminary population structure analysis based on micro-satellites showed that the distinct dwarf populations adapted to similar resource-limited habitats independently across different regions in Iceland (FST= 0.01~0.47 between dwarf populations) and transcriptome analysis found 470 genes expressed differently among three sympatric morphs from Lake Thingvallavatn during developmental stages from 125 to 260 daydegrees. The Icelandic Arctic charr populations provide a great model to understand adaptive divergence/convergence and insights into early stages of ecological speciation.