Abstract Detail

Hybrids and Hybridization

Grossfurthner, Lukas [1], Hohenlohe, Paul [2], Runyon, Justin [3], Waits, Lisette [4], Richardson, Bryce [5].

Are ecotones drivers of genetic diversity and polyploidization in Artemisia tridentata? - Gene flow between subspecies at different ploidy levels.

Ecotones, the transitional zone between two or more habitats, are evolutionary and ecologically important regions, as they form a bridge that allows the exchange of organisms and the contact of related species. The latter often leads to hybridization and introgression and thus shifts allele frequencies or generates new genotypes and phenotypes. Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush) is an excellent study system to address the effect of ecotones on species, because it is a landscape dominating plant in the western United States, occupies multiple distinct ecological niches and exhibits diploid and tetraploid cytotypes, which led to the recognition of three widely accepted subspecies. These subspecies are ecologically, chemically and cytologically separated, but are known to hybridize when they co-occur.
Here, we are studying six spatially and ecologically differing ecotones across the distribution range of A. tridentata and propose to identify and quantify gene flow between subspecies at different ploidy levels as well as the genomic and ecological consequences. Specifically, we aim (i) to identify if, to what extent and at which ploidy level gene flow occurs between subspecies. Furthermore, we test (ii) whether gene flow is geographically restricted and admixed individuals only occur between the parental habitats, or whether polyploidization lowers the cost of hybridization and serves as a conduit for gene flow between populations. We further test (iii) if ploidy variation is a mechanism of speciation that results in a reduction or barrier of gene flow between heteroploid populations, whether there is backcrossing to either parent or whether we are able to detect differentially introgressed genomic regions as indicators for local adaptation.

1 - University of Idaho, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Graduate Program, Moscow, ID, 83844, USA
2 - University of Idaho, Department of Biological Sciences, Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies, 875 Perimeter Drive, Moscow, ID, 83843, USA
3 - Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 1648 South 7th Avenue, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA
4 - University of Idaho, Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 975 W. 6th Street, Moscow, ID, 83843, USA
5 - Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 1221 South Main St, Moscow, ID, 83843, USA

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P2, Hybrids and Hybridization Posters
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Tuesday, July 20th, 2021
Time: 5:00 PM(EDT)
Number: P2HH003
Abstract ID:906
Candidate for Awards:Phytochemical Best Poster Award