Schwander Tanja, Libbrecht Romain, Keller Laurent
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Laboratory of Insect Social Evolution, Rockefeller University, New York 10065, USA.
Curr Biol. 2014 Mar 31;24(7):R288-94. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.01.056.
Understanding the molecular underpinnings of evolutionary adaptations is a central focus of modern evolutionary biology. Recent studies have uncovered a panoply of complex phenotypes, including locally adapted ecotypes and cryptic morphs, divergent social behaviours in birds and insects, as well as alternative metabolic pathways in plants and fungi, that are regulated by clusters of tightly linked loci. These 'supergenes' segregate as stable polymorphisms within or between natural populations and influence ecologically relevant traits. Some supergenes may span entire chromosomes, because selection for reduced recombination between a supergene and a nearby locus providing additional benefits can lead to locus expansions with dynamics similar to those known for sex chromosomes. In addition to allowing for the co-segregation of adaptive variation within species, supergenes may facilitate the spread of complex phenotypes across species boundaries. Application of new genomic methods is likely to lead to the discovery of many additional supergenes in a broad range of organisms and reveal similar genetic architectures for convergently evolved phenotypes.
理解进化适应的分子基础是现代进化生物学的核心焦点。最近的研究揭示了一系列复杂的表型，包括局部适应的生态型和隐性形态、鸟类和昆虫中不同的社会行为，以及植物和真菌中的替代代谢途径，这些都是由紧密连锁的基因座簇调控的。这些“超级基因”在自然种群内部或之间作为稳定的多态性分离，并影响与生态相关的性状。一些超级基因可能跨越整条染色体，因为对超级基因与提供额外益处的附近基因座之间减少重组的选择可导致基因座扩展，其动态类似于性染色体的动态。除了允许物种内适应性变异的共分离外，超级基因还可能促进复杂表型跨物种边界的传播。应用新的基因组方法可能会在广泛的生物体中发现许多额外的超级基因，并揭示趋同进化表型的相似遗传结构。
