Abalos Javier, Pérez I de Lanuza Guillem, Bartolomé Alicia, Aubret Fabien, Uller Tobias, Font Enrique
Ethology Lab, Instituto Cavanilles de Biodiversidad y Biología Evolutiva, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain.
CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Curr Zool. 2021 May 10;68(1):41-55. doi: 10.1093/cz/zoab039. eCollection 2022 Feb.
Color polymorphisms are widely studied to identify the mechanisms responsible for the origin and maintenance of phenotypic variability in nature. Two of the mechanisms of balancing selection currently thought to explain the long-term persistence of polymorphisms are the evolution of alternative phenotypic optima through correlational selection on suites of traits including color and heterosis. Both of these mechanisms can generate differences in offspring viability and fitness arising from different morph combinations. Here, we examined the effect of parental morph combination on fertilization success, embryonic viability, newborn quality, antipredator, and foraging behavior, as well as inter-annual survival by conducting controlled matings in a polymorphic lacertid , where color morphs are frequently assumed to reflect alternative phenotypic optima (e.g., alternative reproductive strategies). Juveniles were kept in outdoor tubs for a year in order to study inter-annual growth, survival, and morph inheritance. In agreement with a previous genome-wide association analysis, morph frequencies in the year-old juveniles matched the frequencies expected if orange and yellow expressions depended on recessive homozygosity at 2 separate loci. Our findings also agree with previous literature reporting higher reproductive output of heavy females and the higher overall viability of heavy newborn lizards, but we found no evidence for the existence of alternative breeding investment strategies in female morphs, or morph-combination effects on offspring viability and behavior. We conclude that inter-morph breeding remains entirely viable and genetic incompatibilities are of little significance for the maintenance of discrete color morphs in from the Pyrenees.
颜色多态性被广泛研究，以确定自然界中表型变异的起源和维持机制。目前认为可以解释多态性长期存在的两种平衡选择机制是通过对包括颜色在内的一系列性状进行相关选择，从而使替代表型最优值发生进化，以及杂种优势。这两种机制都可以导致不同形态组合产生的后代活力和适应性差异。在这里，我们通过在一种多态性蜥蜴中进行控制性交配，研究了亲代形态组合对受精成功率、胚胎活力、新生幼体质量、反捕食和觅食行为以及年际存活率的影响，在这种蜥蜴中，颜色形态常被认为反映了替代表型最优值（例如替代繁殖策略）。将幼体饲养在室外的桶中一年，以研究年际生长、存活和形态遗传。与之前的全基因组关联分析一致，一岁幼体中的形态频率与预期频率相符，即橙色和黄色表现取决于两个独立位点的隐性纯合性。我们的研究结果也与之前的文献一致，文献报道较重的雌性具有更高的繁殖产量，较重的新生蜥蜴总体活力更高，但我们没有发现雌性形态中存在替代繁殖投资策略的证据，也没有发现形态组合对后代活力和行为有影响的证据。我们得出结论，形态间杂交仍然完全可行，并且遗传不相容性对于维持来自比利牛斯山脉的蜥蜴的离散颜色形态意义不大。
