1 Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory, School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University , Bangor LL57 2UW , UK.
2 Evolutionary and Translational Venomics Laboratory, CSIC , Jaume Roig 11, Valencia 46010 , Spain.
Proc Biol Sci. 2019 Mar 13;286(1898):20182735. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2735.
Understanding the origin and maintenance of phenotypic variation, particularly across a continuous spatial distribution, represents a key challenge in evolutionary biology. For this, animal venoms represent ideal study systems: they are complex, variable, yet easily quantifiable molecular phenotypes with a clear function. Rattlesnakes display tremendous variation in their venom composition, mostly through strongly dichotomous venom strategies, which may even coexist within a single species. Here, through dense, widespread population-level sampling of the Mojave rattlesnake, Crotalus scutulatus, we show that genomic structural variation at multiple loci underlies extreme geographical variation in venom composition, which is maintained despite extensive gene flow. Unexpectedly, neither diet composition nor neutral population structure explain venom variation. Instead, venom divergence is strongly correlated with environmental conditions. Individual toxin genes correlate with distinct environmental factors, suggesting that different selective pressures can act on individual loci independently of their co-expression patterns or genomic proximity. Our results challenge common assumptions about diet composition as the key selective driver of snake venom evolution and emphasize how the interplay between genomic architecture and local-scale spatial heterogeneity in selective pressures may facilitate the retention of adaptive functional polymorphisms across a continuous space.
理解表型变异的起源和维持,特别是在连续的空间分布上,是进化生物学的一个关键挑战。为此,动物毒液是理想的研究系统:它们是复杂的、可变化的,但又容易量化的分子表型,具有明确的功能。响尾蛇的毒液成分表现出巨大的变异,主要通过强烈的二分毒液策略,甚至在单一物种内共存。在这里,我们通过对莫哈韦响尾蛇 Crotalus scutulatus 的密集、广泛的种群水平采样,表明多个基因座的基因组结构变异是毒液成分在地理上极端变异的基础,尽管存在广泛的基因流,但这种变异仍得以维持。出乎意料的是,饮食组成和中性种群结构都不能解释毒液的变异。相反,毒液的分化与环境条件密切相关。单个毒素基因与不同的环境因素相关,这表明不同的选择压力可以独立于它们的共表达模式或基因组邻近性作用于单个基因座。我们的研究结果挑战了饮食组成作为蛇类毒液进化的关键选择驱动因素的常见假设,并强调了基因组结构和局部空间选择压力的相互作用如何促进适应性功能多态性在连续空间中的保留。