Here, we focus on seven catadromous eel species (genus Anguilla) and use genome-wide sequence data from more than 450 individuals sampled across the tropical Indo-Pacific, morphological information, and three newly assembled draft genomes to compare contemporary patterns of hybridization with signatures of past introgression across a time-calibrated phylogeny. We show that the seven species have remained distinct for up to 10 million years and find that the current frequencies of hybridization across species pairs contrast with genomic signatures of past introgression. Based on near-complete asymmetry in the directionality of hybridization and decreasing frequencies of later-generation hybrids, we suggest cytonuclear incompatibilities, hybrid breakdown, and purifying selection as mechanisms that can support species cohesion even when hybridization has been pervasive throughout the evolutionary history of clades.
Stable species boundaries despite ten million years of hybridization in tropical eels
Genomic evidence is increasingly underpinning that hybridization between taxa is commonplace, challenging our views on the mechanisms that maintain their boundaries. Research findings in an Austrian Science Fund project partially led by Ruben Sommaruga were recently published in Nature Communications
Bild: Genomic and morphological variation in tropical eels
(Credit: J.M.I. Barth et al)
Links
- Barth, J.M.I.; Gubili, C.; Matschiner, M.; Tørresen, O.; Watanabe, S.; Egger, B.; Han, Y-S.; Feunteun, E.; Sommaruga, R.; Jehle, R.; Schabetsberger, R. (2020): Stable species boundaries despite ten million years of hybridization in tropical eels. In: Nature Communications 11/1, NO. 1433
- Lake and Glacier Ecology Research Group