Ecological adaptation in Atlantic herring is associated with large shifts in allele frequencies at hundreds of loci

Abstract

Atlantic herring is widespread in North Atlantic and adjacent waters and is one of the most abundant vertebrates on earth. This species is well suited to explore genetic adaptation due to minute genetic differentiation at selectively neutral loci. Here, we report hundreds of loci underlying ecological adaptation to different geographic areas and spawning conditions. Four of these represent megabase inversions confirmed by long read sequencing. The genetic architecture underlying ecological adaptation in herring deviates from expectation under a classical infinitesimal model for complex traits because of large shifts in allele frequencies at hundreds of loci under selection.

Published in

eLife
2020, volume: 9, article number: e61076

SLU Authors

• Casini, Michele

  • Department of Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • University of Bologna

• Andersson, Leif

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Texas A&M University
  • Uppsala University

Associated SLU-program

Coastal and sea areas

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science
Evolutionary Biology
Ecology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.61076

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/109263