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Candidate genes for colour and vision exhibit signals of selection across the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) breeding range

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Author

  • PK Lehtonen
  • T Laaksonen
  • AV Artemyev
  • E Belskii
  • PR Berg
  • C Both
  • L Buggiotti
  • S Bures
  • MD Burgess
  • AV Bushuev
  • I Krams
  • J Moreno
  • M Mägi
  • Andreas Nord
  • J Potti
  • P-A Ravussin
  • PM Sirkiä
  • G-P Saetre
  • W Winkel
  • CR Primmer
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Summary, in English

The role of natural selection in shaping adaptive trait differentiation in natural populations has long been recognized. Determining its molecular basis, however, remains a challenge. Here, we search for signals of selection in candidate genes for colour and its perception in a passerine bird. Pied flycatcher plumage varies geographically in both its structural and pigment-based properties. Both characteristics appear to be shaped by selection. A single-locus outlier test revealed 2 of 14 loci to show significantly elevated signals of divergence. The first of these, the follistatin gene, is expressed in the developing feather bud and is found in pathways with genes that determine the structure of feathers and may thus be important in generating variation in structural colouration. The second is a gene potentially underlying the ability to detect this variation: SWS1 opsin. These two loci were most differentiated in two Spanish pied flycatcher populations, which are also among the populations that have the highest UV reflectance. The follistatin and SWS1 opsin genes thus provide strong candidates for future investigations on the molecular basis of adaptively significant traits and their co-evolution.

Publishing year

2012

Language

English

Pages

431-440

Publication/Series

Heredity

Volume

108

Issue

4

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Macmillan

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Keywords

  • SNP
  • melanin
  • ultraviolet reflectance
  • outlier test
  • passerine bird

Status

Published

Research group

  • Life History and Functional Ecology

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1365-2540