Genome-wide data reveal cryptic diversity and genetic introgression in an Oriental cynopterine fruit bat radiation

BMC Evolutionary Biology

Research Article

Frank E. Rheindt¹  Uma Ramakrishnan²  Kritika M. Garg³  D. Paramanantha Swami Doss⁴  Sripathi Kandula⁴  A. K. Vinoth Kumar⁴  Balaji Chattopadhyay⁵ 

[1] Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore;Ecology and Evolution, National Centre for Biological Science, TIFR, Bangalore, India;Ecology and Evolution, National Centre for Biological Science, TIFR, Bangalore, India;Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore;School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India;School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India;Ecology and Evolution, National Centre for Biological Science, TIFR, Bangalore, India;Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore;

关键词: Gene flow;    SNPs;    ddRAD;    Cynopterus sphinx;    Cynopterus brachyotis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12862-016-0599-y

 received in 2015-07-30, accepted in 2016-01-22,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe Oriental fruit bat genus Cynopterus, with several geographically overlapping species, presents an interesting case study to evaluate the evolutionary significance of coexistence versus isolation. We examined the morphological and genetic variability of congeneric fruit bats Cynopterus sphinx and C. brachyotis using 405 samples from two natural contact zones and 17 allopatric locations in the Indian subcontinent; and investigated the population differentiation patterns, evolutionary history, and the possibility of cryptic diversity in this species pair.ResultsAnalysis of microsatellites, cytochrome b gene sequences, and restriction digestion based genome-wide data revealed that C. sphinx and C. brachyotis do not hybridize in contact zones. However, cytochrome b gene sequences and genome-wide SNP data helped uncover a cryptic, hitherto unrecognized cynopterine lineage in northeastern India coexisting with C. sphinx. Further analyses of shared variation of SNPs using Patterson’s D statistics suggest introgression between this lineage and C. sphinx. Multivariate analyses of morphology using genetically classified grouping confirmed substantial morphological overlap between C. sphinx and C. brachyotis, specifically in the high elevation contact zones in southern India.ConclusionOur results uncover novel diversity and detect a pattern of genetic introgression in a cryptic radiation of bats, demonstrating the complicated nature of lineage diversification in this poorly understood taxonomic group. Our results highlight the importance of genome-wide data to study evolutionary processes of morphologically similar species pairs. Our approach represents a significant step forward in evolutionary research on young radiations of non-model species that may retain the ability of interspecific gene flow.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Chattopadhyay et al. 2016