Dynamic formation of asexual diploid and polyploid lineages: multilocus analysis of Cobitis reveals the mechanisms maintaining the diversity of clones

Given the hybrid genomic constitutions and increased ploidy of many asexual animals, the identification of processes governing the origin and maintenance of clonal diversity provides useful information about the evolutionary consequences of interspecific hybridization, asexuality and polyploidy. In...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-09, Vol.7 (9), p.e45384-e45384
Main Authors: Janko, Karel, Kotusz, Jan, De Gelas, Koen, Slechtová, Vera, Opoldusová, Zuzana, Drozd, Pavel, Choleva, Lukáš, Popiołek, Marcin, Baláž, Marián
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Animals
Biological evolution
Biology
Biotypes
Cichlasoma taenia
Cloning
Cobitidae
Cobitis
Cobitis taenia
Cypriniformes - genetics
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Diploidy
DNA
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
Ecology
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Extinction (Biology)
Genetic analysis
Genetic aspects
Genetics
Genotype
Genotyping
Hybridization
Hybrids
Hypotheses
Influence
Interspecific
Interspecific hybridization
Laboratories
Microsatellite Repeats - genetics
Microsatellites
Mitochondrial DNA
Phylogenetics
Physiological aspects
Physiology
Ploidy
Polyploidy
R&D
Recruitment
Reproduction (biology)
Research & development
Spatial distribution
Species extinction
Zoology
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Description
Summary:Given the hybrid genomic constitutions and increased ploidy of many asexual animals, the identification of processes governing the origin and maintenance of clonal diversity provides useful information about the evolutionary consequences of interspecific hybridization, asexuality and polyploidy. In order to understand the processes driving observed diversity of biotypes and clones in the Cobitis taenia hybrid complex, we performed fine-scale genetic analysis of Central European hybrid zone between two sexual species using microsatellite genotyping and mtDNA sequencing. We found that the hybrid zone is populated by an assemblage of clonally (gynogenetically) reproducing di-, tri- and tetraploid hybrid lineages and that successful clones, which are able of spatial expansion, recruit from two ploidy levels, i.e. diploid and triploid. We further compared the distribution of observed estimates of clonal ages to theoretical distributions simulated under various assumptions and showed that new clones are most likely continuously recruited from ancestral populations. This suggests that the clonal diversity is maintained by dynamic equilibrium between origination and extinction of clonal lineages. On the other hand, an interclonal selection is implied by nonrandom spatial distribution of individual clones with respect to the coexisting sexual species. Importantly, there was no evidence for sexually reproducing hybrids or clonally reproducing non-hybrid forms. Together with previous successful laboratory synthesis of clonal Cobitis hybrids, our data thus provide the most compelling evidence that 1) the origin of asexuality is causally linked to interspecific hybridization; 2) successful establishment of clones is not restricted to one specific ploidy level and 3) the initiation of clonality and polyploidy may be dynamic and continuous in asexual complexes.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0045384